COP-OUT MAY COST OFFICERS\5-year service plan sent to L.A. council.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

After months of hearings, a City Council panel recommended Friday that the LAPD require police officers to reimburse the city for training costs if they leave the department within five years of graduating from the Police Academy.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, chairwoman of the Public Safety Committee, sent the proposal on to the full council after hearing that the city lost more than $1 million in the past two years in training costs for police officers who quit the department within five years of graduation.

"This is something that is needed in terms of a cost-effective, common sense measure," Chick said.

It costs nearly $100,000 to put a recruit through the Police Academy, but many officers are quitting soon after graduation for jobs with other law enforcement agencies that provide better pay and working conditions, Chick said.

In one case last year, a police recruit resigned from the LAPD the day he graduated from the academy to apply for a job with the San Marino Police Department.

Chick said other recruits have since left within weeks of graduating.

The new policy would require officers to reimburse the city for a pro-rated share of the training expenses only if they take another law enforcement job within a year of quitting the LAPD.

Police union President Cliff Ruff did not attend Friday's meeting but told the committee last month that he is willing to support the proposal even though he sees it as a "temporary fix" to the department's attrition problem.

Chick said the city faces "major budget decisions" in settling on how large a pay raise to grant police officers this year to address the LAPD's lack of competitiveness with other agencies.