L.A. Now Live: LAPD ranks shrink due to lack of qualified recruits

Discuss the steady decline in the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department with Times reporter Joel Rubin at 9 a.m.

Fewer people are applying to join the LAPD, and of those who do, a significantly higher number are being disqualified from consideration. Officials say budget cuts have slashed the advertising used to draw recruits, and that other police departments are luring top talent with higher salaries than the LAPD offers.

Since the decline began several months ago, the LAPD is down more than 100 officers. The department needs to hire about 350 officers a year to make up for normal attrition, and officials say the department could remain understaffed for years if the current trend holds.

The attrition means fewer police officers available for patrol duty and other functions, officials say.

Also, the number of women and African Americans -- and especially black women -- making it into the Police Academy has dropped considerably. That leaves the department far short of diversity goals in recent academy classes. The goals were put in place decades ago to counter discriminatory hiring practices. None of the 30 rookies who recently graduated from the academy, for example, were black and only five were women.

Officials pointed to several other factors they said are contributing to the shortage.

To start, not enough people want to join the LAPD. The department needs about 865 people each month to begin the lengthy application process to become a cop -- a large crop that inevitably gets whittled down as people drop out or are disqualified. Currently, the LAPD is getting between 600 and 700 new applicants, said John Dunlop, chief of the personnel department’s backgrounds division.