Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Thursday issued a new executive directive intended to accelerate police hiring amid ongoing challenges to increase sworn officers above 9,000.

The directive will establish new protocols between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Personnel Department with the goal of clearing bureaucratic barriers and establishing new criteria to ensure the hiring of highly qualified candidates. It will also establish new benchmarks for each stage of the hiring process, and the creation of a dedicated LAPD hiring division within the Personnel Department.

“My number-one job as mayor is to keep Los Angeles safe,” Bass said in a statement. “I am issuing this executive directive to break through outdated bureaucratic barriers to hire more officers to serve the people of Los

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