Panel Repeals Age Limit for Police Recruits : LAPD: Department will accept applications from those older than 35. Studies say mature officers are less likely to use force.

Those aspiring to become Los Angeles police officers will no longer be barred from becoming recruits if they are older than 35.

The Los Angeles Civil Service Commission on Friday unanimously voted to lift the age restriction, a decision based on police studies that found that older officers are less likely to use excessive force, take sick leave or become involved in traffic accidents.

“Historically, we’ve gone after youth because of their physical attributes, but . . . people can maintain their physical condition for many years,” said Jesse A. Brewer, vice president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, which had endorsed lifting the age ban.

Brewer, a retired assistant chief of police who spent more than 38 years with the department, said older officers are usually less likely to be hotheaded than their younger counterparts.

“You’ll find the young officers busy still having fun, while the older you get and the more you mature, the more your values change,” he said.

Under current policy, there is no mandatory retirement age for police officers. Service beyond 65 is at the discretion of the department and is reviewed year to year, said Los Angeles Police Detective Bill DeLong.

The city will begin taking applications from older job-seekers within a month, but officials were not sure when the first batch of such recruits might hit the streets. All applicants must meet the department’s physical requirements and complete training at the Police Academy.

“I think it’s fabulous and will have a positive impact,” said DeLong, acting watch commander at Parker Center. “There’s a tremendous market to be tapped for people over 35.”

It is unclear whether police officials will mount an intensive recruiting drive--such as those that have targeted women and minorities--to attract older people to its ranks.

Brewer said it is not the first time the Police Department has accepted older recruits.

A 1985 appeals court ruling determined that a similar age ceiling for Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies was discriminatory, and both departments abandoned the limit.

That same year, a 53-year-old recruit became the oldest police academy graduate. But the age restriction was reinstated in 1987.