AUDIT: L.A. 'UNDER-POLICED' PUT MORE COPS ON STREET BY HIRING CIVILIANS TO DO OFFICE TASKS, CHICK SAYS.

Byline: Rick Orlov

Staff Writer

Even as homicides have spiked this year in Los Angeles, more than 400 police officers are unable to fight crime on the streets because they are filling in on a backlog of administrative and other tasks that should instead be performed by civilians, according to an audit released Monday.

Renewing a call to hire more civilians for the LAPD, City Controller Laura Chick said that amid funding cuts and attrition, the department has more than 600 vacant civilian posts -- from clerks and typists to analysts -- and that many of the jobs are now being performed by sworn officers.

"There is no question that Los Angeles is one of the most under-policed big cities in America," Chick said in releasing the audit with LAPD Chief William Bratton.

"I have watched three mayors try to find a way to hire and retain increased numbers of police officers. But all of them have overlooked what to me is an obvious way to get more officers on the street.

"This is a way to immediately get more officers on the street without having to wait to recruit and train them."

The audit comes even as city officials have boosted residents' trash fees to pay for recruiting and hiring more officers, and earlier this month said they were halfway to their goal of hiring 1,000 new cops by 2010.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has said the police force will surpass 9,852 officers by the end of this year -- the most in Los Angeles Police Department history -- and is on track for 10,000 cops by next year.

The hiring of more civilians could more quickly put officers back on the streets, and Villaraigosa -- who agreed with Bratton in calling for the report -- welcomed the suggestion.

"The mayor agrees that civilianization is necessary to maximize the number of police officers assigned to crime-fighting duties, but growing the Police Department by 1,000 officers remains his top budgetary priority," spokesman Matt Szabo said.

But Bratton immediately embraced the proposal as a way to help him get officers on the streets at a time gang violence has been raging.

So far this year, homicides have increased in the city -- with 86 in the first few months compared with 67 in the same period last year.

"There's this impression out there that the LAPD gets all it wants," Bratton said. "It's not true. We are hiring officers, but we also need civilian support to keep officers out there.

"We have not been able to hire all the civilians we need because of various budget crunches the city has had."

Impact on public

Bratton said the department has taken to "harvesting" officers from patrol duties to perform work that should be performed by civilians -- everything from staffing front desks at stations to processing reports.

Deputy Chief Sharon Papa, who oversees the department's civilian work force of 2,400, said the shortages impact the public.

"We were getting to the point where we were able to get copies of police reports to victims within a month," Papa said. "Now, we're back up to it taking four months. That's a direct impact on the public."

Bratton said the department's civilianization program long has suffered because of few promotional opportunities.

"Unfortunately, we have people who are forced to leave when they want to advance," Bratton said. "We don't want to lose them and they don't want to leave, but they feel they have no choice."

In her audit, Chick found that in the current fiscal year, the LAPD is projected to hire 308 civilians -- but after attrition new hires will only total 74.

Chick recommended a three-year, $53million effort that would include training and hiring incentives to boost the department's civilian work force and free up officers who are now tied to those desk jobs.

"We do not need hundreds of police officers, at a cost of $30,000 a year more than a properly trained civilian, performing administrative functions that do not require carrying a firearm," she said.

Bratton said he wants to use Chick's report as a blueprint for the City Council when budget hearings begin next month.

"This city needs many more officers," Bratton said. "I would like to see us at 12,500 officers."

Chick said her audit found that more than 560 jobs that could be filled by civilians were being filled by officers, although 150 of those officers had been assigned to light duty because of injuries.

"Over and over again, we hear the sound bite, 'Let's get officers out from behind desks and out on our streets.' Yet we continue to impose hiring freezes for civilian positions. Who do we think is performing this essential backup work?"

The Los Angeles Police Protective League gave cautious backing to the proposal.

"We agree with Controller Chick that the dedicated officers of the LAPD need experienced and trained civilians to back up the work they are doing in our streets and neighborhoods," League President Tim Sands said.

"While the city is meeting hiring goals of new officers, it has been cutting the guts out of essential backup support. It is clear that we need personnel to fill many of these critical positions."

Less expensive way

While the recommendations come amid a tight city budget outlook, Chick and Bratton said hiring civilians is a less expensive way to free up officers.

Councilman Bernard Parks, who served as police chief prior to Bratton, agreed with the need to hire more civilians but said the department also needs to be cautious.

"There was a recommendation to bring in civilians to serve as adjutants, but it didn't work out," Parks said. "There are some jobs (in which) an officer is needed because of their experience.

"What was happening was captains were just bringing sergeants in to serve as their adjutants in the field."

Parks said there also are some costs that are not being considered.

"When we bring these people in, they want to get on a career ladder and, for some jobs, it just isn't there so we end up losing them," Parks said. "It's a problem, because in some jobs there is no place to move up."

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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