Bass wants more cops--or does she?

 

By Mike McDaniel

It appears even the communist mayor of a major blue state city can be moved to appear to support the police if the stakes are high enough. I don’t refer to public safety in general, but Los Angeles, which is scheduled to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics. Democrats like Mayor Karen Bass don’t care what Americans think, nor about their safety, but they care deeply about the “international community” and their opinions.

Accordingly, Bass sent a letter to the City Council asking for $4.4 million to hire 410 new officers:

Graphic: Bass Letter Excerpt. Public Domain.

Does that sound like a lot?  It’s not.  To put a single new officer on the street for each of three daily eight-hour shifts requires the hiring of not three, but 5-6 new officers. They must cover vacations, sick time, training, court appearances and a variety of other legitimate reasons for officers to be gone from duty. Hiring 410 means about 100 additional officers per shift—in the entire city of Los Angeles. That’s a token number, considering it takes about a year from the date of hiring for a new officer to be capable of working on their own. Until then, they’re directly supervised by training officers and are a drag on manpower and funding.

In her letter, Bass noted the nation's second-largest city can’t have a police force that staffs at the same levels as 1995. She also noted Los Angeles doesn’t have enough police officers per 1,000 residents the way other large cities throughout the country do. The demands of the police department with the upcoming 2028 Olympics and 2026 FIFA World Cup, she wrote, would strain the LAPD.

It will be no surprise to learn neither Bass nor the City Council responded to media requests for comment. Some in LA understand the issues:

“Mayor Bass sees the handwriting on the wall,” Assemblymember Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale and a member of the Assembly Public Safety Committee, told The Center Square on Friday. “We’ve got some worldwide, high-profile events coming with the World Cup and the Olympics coming. They would be one of the most understaffed police departments in the country per capita.”

Some groups outside of the electorate of the city support the funding package, telling The Center Square on Friday that a robust police presence is crucial in keeping the city safe.

 

“Without this very paltry amount of money in the scheme of things, there would be no hiring for a period of time,” Tom Saggau, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a police union in Los Angeles, told The Center Square on Friday. “That would have devastating impacts to the safety of not just our police officers who need backup, but also the residents of Los Angeles.”

And of course, the usual suspects are opposed:

However, a local anti-police group, Stop LAPD Spying, told The Center Square on Friday that the organization did not support the $4.4 million package deal.

“We absolutely reject it,” organizer Hamid Khan said. “They [the LAPD] are constantly bleeding the city of its resources. This goes to show the completely sick priorities in that it is more about policing the youth, criminalizing unhoused people and giving more money to the LAPD rather than investing in communities and their health and wellness.”

It’s likely the Bass request is political gamesmanship rather than a sincere desire for greater public safety. Due to profligate overspending on Democrat priorities rather than irrelevant matters like keeping reservoirs filled for firefighting, LA has at least a billion dollar deficit. Even in California, that's real money. LA’s hopes for a state bailout are almost certainly doomed.  The state’s budget shortfall for the 2024-2025 budget was $73 billion, and future projections are no rosier. It’s also unlikely that President Trump will bail California out in any overarching way.

Bass knows these budget realities only too well; she helped create them. However, like all Democrats, she’s experienced in the fine art of blaming others. This appears to be yet another blame shifting opportunity.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor. 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/12/bass_wants_more_cops_or_does_she.html