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Council debates police, fire trade-offs: hiring classes, emergency-incident technicians and proposed helicopter purchases
Summary
Budget hearings zeroed in on police and fire budgets, with sharp debate over proposed class sizes and cuts to support staff, elimination of emergency incident technician positions in the Fire Department, and a $18 million bond plan for two new police helicopters.
Los Angeles City Council members spent extended time reviewing proposed changes to Police and Fire budgets under the CEO27s savings package, discussing how reductions and swaps would affect frontline services and specialized units.
The most contested items included: reductions of non-sworn police support positions, a plan that would cut roughly 403 non-sworn positions under one option, and a parallel proposal to reduce some Fire Department support roles (including 42 emergency incident technician positions) while preserving sworn firefighters.
Why it matters: Council members warned cuts to support staff can reduce the capacity of sworn officers and firefighters to operate effectively; several members urged caution and asked staff to calculate the operational impacts before approving reductions.
Police details: CEO materials identified up to 403 civilian positions proposed for elimination; the cost to restore those positions was presented by staff at about $64 million (including related costs). Councilmembers discussed an alternative to reduce the number of sworn new recruit classes or class sizes; one proposal recommended funding 240 new sworn hires while resisting cuts to civilian “recycling” or support programs used to keep uniformed officers on patrol.
Fire details: Fire Department leaders warned that proposed elimination of 42 emergency incident technicians (EITs) would remove a team-of-command capability used at complex incidents and increase safety risk for firefighters and the public. The department said many EIT slots are filled and that EITs perform command and incident-control functions that cannot be replaced by simple drivers or temporary assignments.
Helicopters and fleet: Councilmember Hernández and others pushed for a new, up-to-date cost‑benefit study before committing to an $18 million purchase of two police helicopters under the MICLA financing plan; staff said aging aircraft cost the city more to maintain, and newer aircraft can lower lifetime maintenance costs, but several members asked for an updated analysis that reflects current operational needs.
Process notes: Committee members asked the CEO and departmental leaders to return with detailed implementation schedules, vacancy counts (for example, the Fire Department cited about 15 of the 42 EIT slots as currently vacant), and risks to frontline service delivery. Several councilmembers called for delaying final votes until those data are provided.
Ending: The committee did not adopt final cuts in either department during the hearing; it directed staff to provide more detailed cost, vacancy and operational-impact analyses to inform later votes.
