New debate over LAPD staffing

Reviving the debate over the size of the LAPD, the head of the police officers' union called Wednesday for a summit on the future of the agency and how it should cope with the ongoing budget crisis. Daily News.

Paul Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, maintains the city should suspend its practice of hiring officers to replace those who resign or retire. Instead, he said, the Los Angeles Police Department should let its sworn ranks decline in size and use that money to pay overtime to current officers and fill civilian vacancies.

"We have to be truthful with the public about what we're doing," Weber said in an interview. "We aren't being truthful with them.