ELYSIAN PARK, Calif. — Ushered in to the sounds of the Los Angeles Police Department Concert Band, 38 new officers graduated from the LA Police Academy Friday. The graduation took place as the LAPD struggles to find enough officers to offset attrition.

The LAPD is authorized for a force of 9,700, but staffing currently hovers around 9,300 sworn personnel.

“All across America, law enforcement is facing serious staffing shortages with large numbers leaving the workforce and greater than ever difficulties in recruiting and retaining officers, so it’s a distinct privilege to be here looking in the faces of a strong, solid group of people who show that there are still people who are willing to step up and serve,” LA Police Commissioner Dale Bonner told the new graduates and their families, as LAPD Chief Michel Moore and other law enforcement brass looked on from the bleachers.

The addition of 38 new police officers to the force makes a small dent in the department’s hiring deficit. While the LAPD hired over 570 recruits during the last fiscal year — the most in 12 years — the department lost 622 police department members to retirement, Moore reported to the Police Commission earlier this month.

The 570 recruits were far short of the LAPD’s goal of hiring 740 officers, but this year’s goal of 780 new hires could prove even tougher. 

“In addition to the staffing shortages, the profession is facing changing public attitudes towards police and traditional policing practices,” Bonner said, citing the ongoing pandemic and increasing violence, including against police officers. The number of intentional killings of law enforcement last year was higher than it’s been since 2001, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Like other big cities in the United States, Los Angeles is struggling with increased violent crime. Gun violence, in particular, is on the rise. While the number of homicides committed in June was similar to a year ago, there were 143 shooting victims in the city, according to LAPD data reported by Crosstown LA.

That’s the highest number of any month since Jan. 2021 and is 41.6% higher than June 2019.

Despite the increased crime, the city is also struggling with deep distrust of law enforcement and continued calls to defund police amid ongoing officer-involved shootings of unarmed suspects.

“When their community asked, ‘Who will step up and take the first step to change history in a time when becoming a police officer was not a popular decision,’ we chose to lead by example and take that step,” new graduate and class president Officer Isaac Castellon said during Friday’s ceremony. “We are the beginning of the new foundation in which the partnerships and trust between the community and police is going to be built.”

Part of building that trust is building a more diverse police force. Friday’s graduating class consisted of 38 new officers. The 29 men and nine women come from diverse backgrounds: 16 Hispanics, six Caucasians, five African-Americans and three Filipinos.

During the Police Commission meeting earlier this month, Chief Moore said the department was targeting recruitment efforts toward African-American men and women, as well as Pacific Islanders as part of a “full court press” to increase the number of applicants to the Police Academy. 

He said the department had also launched various hiring initiatives, including a housing initiative that would provide a $1,000 stipend to lessen the impact of Southern California’s high housing costs. Earlier in July, the LAPD began a separate $2,000 incentive program for department employees and retirees to identify Academy candidates.  

Moore said the referral incentive mirrors a program that was last used by the department in 2006, 2007 and 2008, which resulted in 150 additional personnel. LAPD is also working with the mayor’s office and LA City Council to establish a hiring bonus to bring additional recruits to the Academy.

Both of the leading candidates to replace Mayor Garcetti have said they would strengthen, rather than defund, the LAPD. On her website, U.S. Representative Karen Bass said she plans to “grow the effectiveness and diversity of the LAPD” by reassigning 250 officers with desk jobs to active patrol and bolstering the LAPD personnel department “to aggressively recruit new officers who are invested in reform and accountability.” 

Calling LA “the most under-policed big city in America,” former Police Commission president and property developer, Rick Caruso, said on his campaign website that he will “expand the number of patrol officers with more hiring civilianization of non-essential sworn positions and a commitment to more training and diversified recruitment.”

Specifically, he is calling for an additional 1,500 police officers within his first term.