LA Weekly explains the LAPD budget fight

Celeste Fremon in the LA Weekly gives the clearest recitation I've seen on the LAPD hiring snit between Hahn and Bratton (who asked for the money to add 320 cops) and the city council (which said too expensive). Her take is not what followers of the Weekly's liberal politics might expect -- she says council egos and manuevering trumped good sense since the LAPD, with half the officers by population than New York and Chicago, needs to grow. The story continues the Weekly's smart police coverage, a trend that began with last September's special issue, Rethinking the LAPD, which got good access to the department and examined the issues from many angles. In the introduction, Marc Cooper wrote of the Weekly's earlier attack mode: "We think it's time to cease and desist...We have held the department's feet to the fire when necessary; we won't hesitate to do so in the future...We have, however, made strenuous efforts to also understand the perspective of the LAPD itself."

Also in the Weekly: A Kate Sullivan cover story on Rodney Bingenheimer (see earlier L.A.O. post) and Jonathan Gold tells where in L.A. to find true oozy blood sausage.