The Los Angeles Police Department’s officer shortage has gone from bad to worse — with the city’s top cop revealing that he has lost hundreds of officers in recent months while trying bolster the beleaguered force by a staggering 4,000 more.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell exclusively told The California Post that the department’s uniformed force currently stands at about 8,550, down about 200 officers from February when the LAPD had more than 8,700 cops.

McDonnell also revealed that the LAPD currently needs about 12,500 cops to ideally safeguard the city, updating a previous estimate of about 12,000 officers that he cited to the Post in February.

“We would be able to provide the best coverage possible with 12,500 officers. We’re not even in that ballpark. We currently have 8,551 for officers that are on the job today,” he said.

“When somebody comes into this organization from another organization as a lateral, they can’t believe what we get done with the number of people we have,” he added.

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