FUNDING FOR HOUSING COPS IFFY 'PROJECTS' FORCE MAY DISBAND WITHOUT CITY BACKING.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

The city Housing Authority may be forced to disband its police force next year if Los Angeles leaders deny a $1.9 million grant request - a loss that could mean higher crime for poor residents, officials say.

Beset by the growing cost of patrolling 15 public projects with a dwindling number of officers, the Housing Authority for the City of Los Angeles has decided to eliminate its 44-year-old Public Safety Department next year unless it receives additional money.

In early January, the city denied the Housing Authority's request for $1.9 million to subsidize the department. The authority appealed the decision to the City Council, which is expected to consider the issue this month.

``The Public Safety Department is in serious deficit,'' said Housing Authority Executive Director Donald Smith. ``If we don't get any additional funds, we'll have to disband it by the end of 2002.

``I certainly hope the city reconsiders - it's a serious issue.''

A spokeswoman for Mayor James Hahn said, ``Our office would encourage them to look for creative funding sources.''

Scuttling the 45-man Public Safety Department would end an experiment in community policing for 22,500 residents citywide, including 2,000 at San Fernando Gardens in Pacoima.

Housing police - working with Los Angeles police - deter gangs and patrol for theft, spousal abuse, battery, graffiti, vandalism and other crime.

But with the Los Angeles Police Department short 1,200 officers, police and city leaders say the loss of the projects' police could open the doors to higher crime and greater community blight.

``It's insane,'' said Councilman Dennis Zine, a former LAPD sergeant.

``I am not for a lawless land, and that's where we're headed with this cutback: The Los Angeles Police Department does not have adequate police to police this city, let alone the housing projects,'' he said.

Residents agree.

``It will be a big problem,'' said Bertha Bedolla, 32, who hears gunshots from her San Fernando Gardens apartment where she lives with three daughters and a toddler son. ``I don't go out at night.

``There are a lot of gangs. Sometimes, a bunch of guys stand in the same place on a corner behind our apartments, and we're scared.''

The Housing Authority police force was established in 1958 to patrol one of the nation's largest public housing agencies. In 1971, there were 18 officers; by 1999, there were 61.

The increase cost money. In 1975, protective services comprised 3 percent of the Housing Authority budget; by last year it had risen to 14.1 percent.

But with a $6 million deficit gnawing into a $9.6 million police budget, the Housing Authority was forced to reorganize and slash its force. Officer drain and recruiting hurdles shrank it even further.

By 2001, there were 44 cops left to sporadically patrol projects in some of the worst crime areas between Pacoima and San Pedro.

The result: higher crime.

Early last year, crime in the projects rose 21 percent over 2000, according to reports. At the Gardens, crime shot from one major crime in January 2001 to 16 in July. Gang-member suspects shot three men strolling through the complex.

``Whoa!,'' said Don, a 68-year-old Gardens resident, a security guard who declined to give his last name. ``We know there is a police force, but they're never here. They come and go, but in a crisis they're never here.''

Raymond Palacios, the projects' police director who was fired last week for budgetary reasons, declined to comment. He will be replaced by a housing police lieutenant promoted to captain of the department.

But housing police Officer Frank Gutierrez, head of the four-day Gardens patrol, said the Public Safety Department is key to stifling gang activity within the sprawling Pacoima complex.

``We're the actual stakeholders within that development,'' he said, ``so we put in more effort at policing it.''

Los Angeles police say eliminating the HACLA housing police would damage law enforcement.

``It would be a blow for us if we didn't have them, because it would mean more workload for us,'' said LAPD Capt. Kenneth O. Garner, who until last week commanded the department's Foothill Division, which polices the Gardens.

``We need 'em,'' added LAPD Senior Lead Officer Julian Almarez, who patrols the Gardens. ``Our department is shorthanded as it is.''

Housing Authority officials say the potential ax through its Public Safety Department was precipitated by a federal decision to cut a $1.1 million drug-elimination grant.

Agency officials say that, given a city grant for 2002, its Public Safety Department would be $3.7 million short in 2003 and need more funding.

Scrapping the HACLA housing police, however, would follow national trends. Of 34 active housing police forces a few years ago, according to a Washington Housing and Urban Development Department spokeswoman, only 15 survive.

``There are very few housing authorities left that, without a city contribution, maintain a housing police with sworn officers,'' said Ed Griffen, Housing Authority director of planning and economic development. ``We don't want to run something on a shoestring.

`'We need additional funds.''

City officials say they'll do what they can to protect the neighborhoods. One source close to the issue said the LAPD might merge with the housing police.

A spokeswoman for Hahn said the request for the $1.9 million grant was denied because the money had been earmarked for other agencies.

``Mayor Hahn thinks it is a problem to reduce security at those housing projects and will make it a priority for the Housing Commission,'' Hahn spokeswoman Julie Wong said. ``(He) will also lobby for increased funding from the federal government.''

A spokesman for City Council President Alex Padilla, who had called last summer for more police support at the Gardens apartments near his Pacoima home, was more adamant.

``If the housing police are disbanded, some kind of a stopgap will be instituted,'' aide David Gershwin said. ``If that means for Padilla to have a hunger strike to get more cops, he'll do it.''

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Photo:

Housing Authority officers interview gang members last October in the San Fernando Gardens housing project in Pacoima.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer