HOLDEN NOTIFIES POLICE DEPT. ABOUT DROP IN HIRING OF BLACKS.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

Councilman Nate Holden said Tuesday he would seek to block any federal funds for the Los Angeles Police Department until the hiring of African-Americans is increased.

An LAPD report - requested by Holden - noted that the percentage of African-American appointees to the Police Academy dropped to 7 percent last year compared with 12 percent the previous year.

``I am putting the department and the city on notice that I will write to the president, I will write to the Department of Justice to stop any federal funds until this is corrected,'' Holden said at a City Hall news conference. ``This is 1996. We shouldn't be moving backward.''

LAPD officials, however, said they have taken steps to improve recruitment and training of African-Americans in future classes.

``There was a fairly short interruption in the flow of hires and we've made corrections,'' Assistant Chief Frank Piersol said. ``We are back on track to getting the numbers back up to where they belong.''

Holden said he noticed a reduction in the number of African-American officers when he attended a recent police recruit graduation ceremony.

``There were only three or four black graduates, and I asked Chief (Willie) Williams what was going on,'' Holden said.

LAPD hiring is covered by a 1980 consent decree that requires it to have officers representative of the city work force.

African-Americans now make up 13.9 percent of the LAPD. That figure is about the same as the percentage of African-Americans in the general population in Los Angeles.

Cmdr. Tim McBride, an LAPD spokesman, said the department is continuing its efforts to have a diverse force.

``We are actively recruiting African-Americans, but since we are still behind on our goals for Hispanics, we are aggressively focusing on meeting those consent decree goals,'' McBride said.

Holden said he would wait to see the percentage of officers in the next class before asking the federal government to hold up on any funds.

Meanwhile, the Police Commission asked Police Chief Willie L. Williams on Tuesday to review concerns that not enough women officers are taking the sergeant's promotional exam.

Williams agreed to return to the commission with a report at the request of Commissioner Edith Perez, who said she is concerned that the number of women taking the test to become sergeants is too low.

Lt. Tony Alba said preliminary indications are that female officers are pursuing other avenues of promotion.

``It appears most of them applied to go the detective route,'' Alba said.

A coalition of civil rights groups recently voiced concern that the LAPD is not doing enough to meet goals for the recruitment and promotion of women officers.

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PHOTO Nate Holden

Seeks to block funds