Citing a shortage of city employees in Los Angeles, Councilman Tim McOsker filed a motion Friday seeking to hire more officers to staff the police department’s Park Gate Closure Program.
The Park Gate Closure Program is responsible for opening and closing city parks with gated enclosures. It operates under the LAPD, but the staff is unarmed.
Of the 100 parks that have gated enclosures, only 55 are secured on a rotational basis, according to the LAPD. McOsker’s motion cites the Wattles Garden Park, Runyon Canyon Park and Elysian Park as priority parks.
The department currently has 32 vacancies. It has two full-time officers and seven more officers working on an as-needed basis.
McOsker said that as chair of the council’s Personnel, Audits and Hiring Committee, he has a responsibility to “look at the bottlenecks in our city’s hiring and come up with innovative ways to fill vacancies.”
“The Park Gate Closure Program is a preventative measure for community safety and it should be of the utmost importance for hiring,” McOsker said.
McOsker called for the council to seek a report from the city’s personnel department and the LAPD on an overview of the hiring process for the program, including any barriers. It also calls for alternatives to closing the parks if there are no officers available.