It’s taking the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department longer and longer to respond to 911 calls. A report sent to county supervisors in September showed an increase of 38 seconds, or .64 minutes, in average response times between 2018 and 2023.
Staffing shortages are believed to be the leading cause of the slowed 911 response. Around 1,463 deputy positions are currently vacant. That doesn’t count the deputies on medical or family leave, or even those on military duty.
“It’s a staffing crisis. There’s no way around that terminology,” Sheriff Robert Luna recently told ABC News.
Staffing took a nose dive after the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests. The 2020 demonstrations were followed by budget cuts, which have since been reversed. Negative perceptions of policing have hurt recruitment efforts and morale — not just at LASD, but at law enforcement agencies across the nation.
The City of Los Angeles has encountered similar problems.
“New projections included in the [LAPD’s] fiscal year 2026 budget proposal show that between recruiting shortfalls and attrition, leaders expect to lose more than 150 cops, leaving a force of about 8,620 by June 30, 2026,” the Los Angeles Times reported in January. “That would mark the lowest deployment in roughly 30 years, records show.”
LASD has increasingly relied on overtime to mend its gaps. That has led to significant stress. A rash of LASD suicides in 2023 prompted greater scrutiny of deputy workloads.
The shortage of LASD personnel poses potential public safety risks for unincorporated Los Angeles and the 42 cities that rely on the sheriff’s department.
Read more about the department’s staffing crisis here.