A police union chief told officers to leave Los Angeles for a city that “understands your worth” when LAPD pay negotiations came to a head last month.

Los Angeles Police Protective League Vice President Jerretta Sandoz noted on Facebook before the LAPD contract expired on June 30 that police officers were suffering at the hands of hostile City Council members.

“Go somewhere that respects the work you do and you don’t have to beg for a big contract,” he wrote, according to a screenshot of his post that was seen by the los angeles times.

“Go somewhere that has a city council or city manager that openly acknowledges the great work you do, go somewhere that doesn’t have two or more city council members that hate you (no exaggeration),” Sandoz wrote, a 20 year veteran. of the strength

His comments drew criticism within the department, which has suffered from a shrinking workforce. The number of active officers has dropped to just over 9,000, up from over 10,000 in 2019, and continues to decline.

Los Angeles Police Protective League Vice President Jerretta Sandoz noted on Facebook before the LAPD contract expired June 30 that officers were suffering at the hands of hostile City Council members and complained of a lack of respect for force

The number of active officers has dropped to just over 9,000, down from over 10,000 in 2019. As of last week, the number was reported to be as low as 9,027

The department is expected to lose about 500 other officers in the next nine months to retirements and resignations, according to a LA Times estimate of April.

The department and the union have suggested that the staffing shortage is the result of an increasingly hostile attitude towards police in the city: they see the ban on the use of the Thin Blue Line flag as a symptom of those sentiments.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass addressed the hiring crisis and set a goal of bringing the size of the workforce back to 9,500.

“I know that’s ambitious, but I think it has to happen,” he said when announcing a new budget for additional officers earlier this year.

But according to the Times, the Police Academy’s last 10 classes had an average of 30 graduating officers, which is well below the number needed to reach its goals.

The mayor’s spokeswoman said in a statement to The Times that her concerns about staffing remained high.

“The mayor’s number one job is to keep Angelenos safe,” he wrote. “She continues to be concerned about the number of officers retiring and her budget reflects that concern.”

Sandoz, for the most part, has kept his Facebook post deleted ever since, but said his comments were primarily directed at those who had already made a difference moving forward.

“My comments were part of a larger online thread about officers stating that they had already decided to leave the Los Angeles Police Department,” he told the newspaper.

“And I stand by every word I wrote to those who have decided, or are seriously considering, leaving the Los Angeles Police Department for another agency.”

In a later email, he told the publication that he hopes the department will make “improvements” and that officers choose to stay with the LAPD.

He added that the “criteria I advise officers to evaluate when choosing to work for another agency are, in many ways, the same criteria officers use to determine whether they will stay with the LAPD.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (pictured) addressed the hiring crisis, setting a goal of bringing the size of the workforce back to 9,500

LAPD chief Michel Moore has suggested that the fights are related to a perception of hostility towards police since the killing of George Floyd.

Preventing officers from displaying the Thin Blue Line flag has also raised tensions, and Sandoz cited it as one of the issues facing officers.

He also noted that there is a backlog of background investigations that makes potential recruits wait months before they can go through the academy.

The department has been making plans to award $15,000 signing bonuses and other incentives to new officers.

Bass has also proposed lowering the standards he requires of recruits by hiring a third party to study why some recruits fail so the bar can be lowered.

The mayor’s goal of diversifying the police department and lowering qualifications has been deemed “dangerous” among LAPD union leaders, as some would-be officers are grossly unfit for the job.

“That’s just a recipe for disaster,” Tom Saggau, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, told the news outlet. “We believe that lowering standards is a dangerous precedent.”

Other goals Bass plans to focus on include reducing the number of shootings involving police and removing “officers associated with national right-wing extremist organizations.”

Saggu told the news outlet that those who do not qualify as new hires do not “possess the mental aptitude or the physical ability to be a police officer.”

“If you have police officers who can’t meet the minimum qualifications or meet the minimum standards, for example, you have recruits who have been through the academy who just can’t get the minimum requirements for a physical fitness test,” Saggau told the news. . exit.

‘One hundred is the maximum score, 50 is acceptable. There are people who are scoring less than 10. That’s just dangerous.’