The candidates are largely in sync on big-picture public safety issues. All three support Mayor Karen Bass’ long-term goal of restoring the Los Angeles Police Department to 9,500 officers. (Last month, it had 8,640.)
Gaspar, 44, thinks that goal doesn’t go far enough. He wants the department to have 10,000 officers, which it last had in 2020. He points to his own experience from a few years ago when his family’s home was burglarized.
“When I called 911, this is no exaggeration, I was on hold for 30 minutes before I got a person. Thirty full minutes,” he said. “That is something that points to the city being broken.”
Worth Girvan, 42, said she too wants the LAPD to return to 10,000 officers, a goal first accomplished in 2013 by former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was her boss for several years.
Celona, 46, was less specific about the number of officers needed but voiced general support for the mayor’s hiring goal.
All three also spoke in favor of the pay increases Bass negotiated with the city’s police union, which critics have derided as too expensive. Supporters say the pay hikes will keep officers, particularly new hires, from being lured away by other law enforcement agencies.
“I have met with many LAPD officers, and what they they tell me consistently is that they train here, but then we lose them,” Worth Girvan said.
