CITY BATTENS DOWN HATCHES $3.3 MILLION PROPOSED TO UPGRADE SECURITY.

Los Angeles officials began to prepare anew on Monday for the potential of future terrorist attacks at the heart of local government, with a recommendation to add $3.3 million over the next two years to beef up Civic Center security.

``This has to be our top priority,'' Mayor James Hahn said in support of the plan. ``One of my top concerns after the attacks was how well the city was able to protect the public and our workers - from the Department of Water and Power reservoirs to the airport and in our city buildings.''

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who heads the committee that recommended the new security plans, said the safety of city workers and visitors in public facilities is one of the highest priorities of government.

``We have to recognize the need to balance public access and safety for the people who work and come to City Hall to meet with their officials,'' Ridley-Thomas said after the action by the council's Information Technology and General Services Committee. ``At this point in history, public safety has to be paramount.''

Councilman Dennis Zine, who also serves on the committee, said he wants to make sure that new security measures allow access by authorized city workers and the public, but with a system to prevent counterfeiting.

Implementation of the program is contingent on approval by the City Council and Hahn.

Since last week's attacks in New York City and near Washington, D.C., city officials have required that all employees display their identification badges and that all visitors have their identification checked and carry visitor badges.

``We don't want a situation where someone can come in and paste any picture they want on a card to get into the building,'' Zine said. ``And we have to make sure that employees are checked.''

Among the plans developed by the General Services Department is to install metal detectors at the main entrance into the City Council chamber, install video cameras at key locations and require the use of electronic key cards to get into city buildings. All visitors to City Hall would have to go through the building's Main Street entrance.

Plans also call for consolidating the City Hall security forces at one location and hiring 38 additional officers and support staff.

The heightened security plans actually were developed years ago but tabled while City Hall was undergoing a $300 million earthquake retrofit and renovation. City Hall reopened to employees in June.

General Services officials said City Hall, because of its symbolism, has the highest priority for improved security, but work also is planned on city facilities in Van Nuys, West Los Angeles and San Pedro.

More than $1.1 million already has been set aside for some of the programs.

Costs will include $1.5 million for equipment and $830,000 to relocate the security forces, as well as initial expense of $1.1 million for additional security personnel.

Also on Monday, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, in a report to the council's Public Safety Committee, gave an assessment of city performance immediately after the East Coast attacks.

Coincidentally, September already had been designated Workplace Preparedness Month in Los Angeles. Fliers already had been posted in city buildings asking employees to review their evacuation plans and other preparations for disasters, such as earthquakes and bomb threats.

``Ironically, the day before this event happened, we spent a half day in a bioterrorism exercise,'' said Ellis Stanley, general manager of the city's Emergency Preparedness Department.

On Tuesday, when the attacks occurred, that exercise became more than a drill as City Hall was shut down and the Los Angeles Police Department went on full tactical alert. In that status, Parks said, the department stopped handling minor problems, and officers were told they would learn at the end of their shifts whether they were needed to work overtime.

Officials said 166 bomb threats were reported to the LAPD last week. All turned out to be false. There were 32 reports of hate crimes - none violent. Most were reports of hateful e-mail, phone calls and other messages, and one was about an incident in which someone was spat on.

Requests for service increased 17 percent from the same period last year, but actual crime was down by 26 percent.

Councilman Jack Weiss urged city emergency officials to review all their preparedness plans.

``I urge all of you to go back to the drawing board with all of the relevant departments,'' Weiss said, ``and not focus on so much what worked last week and what made sense given our prior assumptions, but throw those prior assumptions out the window and go back to the drawing board.''

Officials planned a shutdown tonight at the city's Emergency Operations Center, the central command post equipped with computers, telephones, television screens and other communication tools where representatives of every city department convene during citywide emergencies.

Representatives from the city's emergency departments - not from those such as the Personnel Department - will remain on duty but convene in the LAPD's smaller emergency command post, which will remain open at least through Friday, officials said Monday.