Battle of the bulging recruits
Even as it scrambles to add 600 officers by 2009, the LAPD has slashed its recruiting budget by nearly 70 percent, which some fear will hamper its ability to compete for top-quality applicants, by staff writer Rachel Uranga in today's Daily News.
While the 2007-08 budget the City Council approved last week boosts funding for the Los Angeles Police Department by 4.5 percent - to $1.2 billion - it also cuts money for recruiting from $3.2 million to $1 million.
Those trying to identify and lure qualified candidates say their task will become more difficult with such tight resources.
"It's going to be tough because the name of the game in recruitment is advertisement," said Cmdr. Kenneth Garner, who heads the LAPD's recruiting operation.
Members of the LAPD team find themselves sitting shoulder to shoulder with other peace-officer recruiters at job fairs and reading federal recruiting ads on the backs of buses as they sit in traffic.
"We are going to have to be even more aggressive than we are now," Garner said. "You almost have to be like an athletic recruiter because the best candidates have their choice of where to go."