DETECTIVES GOING ON NIGHT SHIFT CONTRACT CHANGING DEPLOYMENT WITHIN LAPD.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

The number of LAPD detectives assigned to nights and weekends will double this month and others will be reassigned to high-crime areas under an initiative designed to increase arrest rates, Chief William Bratton said Tuesday.

Currently, most detectives assigned to the homicide, robbery, auto theft and other bureaus work banker's hours. In addition, each of the city's 18 geographic divisions has only two detectives assigned to work four 10-hour night shifts each week, meaning there is only one on duty most nights.

That will change starting Aug. 24, when the number of detective working nights and weekends will double.

``This is just part of a major overhaul of the detective bureaus,'' said Bratton, who hopes to increase the detectives' arrest rate, which currently is only 1 to 2 percent of the LAPD's total.

When the former New York City police chief joined the Los Angeles Police Department last October, he was unhappy to learn most detectives don't work nights or weekends when most violent crime occurs.

But he was hampered in changing the system by the LAPD's contract with the Police Protective League, which restricted the number of detectives assigned to work nights and weekends.

But the recently negotiated contract that gives officers a 9 percent raise over three years also gives management greater leeway in scheduling personnel. The City Council is expected to formally approve the contract this week.

In addition, Bratton plans to reassign some of the 1,400 detectives to high-crime areas, much like he did with patrol and speciality enforcement units earlier this year. The first change will occur by October, when 10 additional detectives will be shifted to the South Bureau, where crime is on the rise.

That wasn't done earlier because of the secession effort in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood, said Deputy Chief James McMurray.

``There was a thought that, you know what, with the discussion as to fair share citywide that we ought not to upset the apple cart,'' McMurray said.

McMurray said that division captains will have the authority to change detective deployment depending on when and what crimes are happening in a particular area.

Although the PPL agreed to the change in scheduling, officials acknowledge detectives are unhappy about the new night and weekend plan.

``We get people who are nervous about change,'' McMurray said. ``They've gotten used to an environment very different from that, and most people resist change.

``Not that they resist doing their job or being good at it. But they need to be shown how it's going to be better for them'' in terms of more quickly solving crime.

Mariel Garza, [phone]

mariel.garza(at)dailynews.com