Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck this week followed through on a plan to move about 180 officers out of specialized units and spread them among the department’s regional stations.
The move is an effort to counter the impact on the department of the city’s growing budgetary crisis. With no cash available to pay officers who work overtime, the department instead forces cops to take vacation days when they accrue a certain amount of overtime.
That has resulted in an overall depletion in the department’s workforce and the reassignments, Beck said, are aimed at giving station commanders some more officers to fill patrol cars, gang units and other basic assignments.
Beck outlined the reassignment plan last month and announced the details Tuesday. Several specialized units ultimately were tapped to lose officers, including the elite Metropolitan Division that will see 50 officers depart — about a quarter of its total roster.
The transfers come on the heels of an earlier decision to reassign about 140 other specialized officers back into the area stations.
— Joel Rubin