More civilian cuts considered at LAPD

How do you think city officials have managed to maintain the number of sworn officers at almost 10,000 - in spite of the budget woes? By eliminating back-office jobs that help keep the place running - secretaries, fingerprint analysts, forensic personnel and so on. Now comes word, reported by the LAT, that nearly 160 civilian LAPD employees could be laid off by Jan. 1 because of the budget deficit. From the Times:

Officials said there have been discussions about alternatives to the civilian employee cuts at the LAPD, including deferring raises or pay cuts among the various city unions. If that does not happen, Cmdr. Andy Smith said the impact would be hard for the department to absorb. "These are folks who are part of our LAPD family," Smith said Thursday. "We all hope the city can find some alternative solution so we don't have to lose these valuable police employees." Earlier this week, the city's top budget advisor, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana, urged the Los Angeles City Council to follow through on more than 200 employee job cuts tabled earlier this year and recommended including 50 city attorneys on the list.

Given the grim deficit projections going out the next few years, it seems inevitable that some officer positions will be eliminated - if not this year than in two or three years.