Woo Makes Formal Call to Get Officers Off Desks
In the latest proposal to dispatch more police to the streets, Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Woo on Friday called for the Police Commission to develop a plan for replacing hundreds of able-bodied officers--now assigned to desk jobs--with civilians.
“With Los Angeles hit as hard as it is by crime . . . it’s essential we do all we can to increase the number of officers on the streets,” Woo said. “There is no justification for having 400 able-bodied officers working desk jobs when we desperately need them on the streets.”
The Times reported this week that more than 400 of the Police Department’s 8,200 officers are assigned to jobs that city auditors and some department officials say can be done by civilians.
Woo’s proposal represents the latest effort to increase the deployment of officers to patrols. In the past, LAPD officials have applauded that goal but have been stymied, they say, by the city’s refusal or inability to provide the money to hire civilians.
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