CITY EASES WAY FOR EX-OFFICERS TO REJOIN LAPD.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

The day Virgil Castor was sworn in as an officer in the sleepy suburban community of Oceanside, he already knew he made a big mistake leaving the Los Angeles Police Department.

``I've got to tell you, wearing the (Oceanside) uniform, even though it's the LAPD style, it just isn't the same,'' Castor said Tuesday.

Castor is one of 62 former LAPD officers being rehired by the department - a process made easier and more attractive by two ordinances approved Tuesday by the City Council to lure back former officers.

``This is one more ingredient in building up that department as we wish to do,'' said Councilman Dennis Zine, himself a former LAPD officer. ``And there may be some bumps along the way, but the overall goal will be achieved to the betterment of community.''

In the past few months, the department and the police union sent letters to 400 recently departed LAPD officers to encourage them to return, and received responses from nearly 200. Castor and others who want to come back will go through a training program tailored for rehires.

Castor is looking forward to coming back after leaving the LAPD only five months ago to be closer to his daughter who is in college nearby. But he found the pace in Oceanside tedious compared with the action he saw while working at the West Bureau Traffic and Pacific divisions.

``There's always something going on in those places,'' Castor said. ``I've got a good work ethic and I just felt I was not giving citizens their money's worth as I was in L.A.''

With more than 1,100 vacant jobs, the LAPD already has shortened the application process for new recruits from an average of about 11 months to fewer than four, and implemented three- and four-day work schedules.

One new ordinance changes city policy so that officers don't have to return as rookies or take a severe pay cut. The second gives amnesty to officers who left before five years and didn't repay the department for training costs. It also shortens the probationary period from 18 to six months.

Councilman Nate Holden warned that returning officers might leave again if the going gets tough in the future.

``I see them as fair-weather friends and they should not come back,'' Holden said, although he did vote to approve the ordinances.

Phyllis Lynes, assistant general manager of the personnel department's Public Safety Bureau, said that before officers are considered for rehire, their personnel files are exhaustively examined to make sure the department wants them back.

``It was remarkably easier than I thought,'' said homicide Detective Joel Price, who retired from the West Valley station in November 1999 after 20 years on the force - and was rehired in May.

Price became a private investigator and reserve officer for the Ventura County Sheriff's Department but missed regular police work.

Ramiro Capa, who left in April 2001 with not quite four years on the job working patrol in Van Nuys and transit rail, joined the Ventura Police Department but found it couldn't offer him the future that the LAPD can.

``Since Mayor (James) Hahn's come in, it seems there have been some positive changes within the LAPD,'' Capa said. ``We've gotten a compressed work schedule. The pension got a little better and it seems the morale in the department has increased a lot since I left.''