LAPD COMMAND OKS FLAG PIN NEW U.S. BANNER DESIGN IN PRODUCTION.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

Trying to end a conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department rank-and-file and commander staff, Police Commission President Rick Caruso said Friday that officers will be allowed to wear a new type of American flag pin on their uniforms.

Until now, uniformed officers had been told they may wear only one type of American flag image - one that appears on a pin for the anti-drug DARE program.

But faced with increasingly bitter complaints from the officers' union and officers who wanted to honor victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and display their patriotism, Caruso - acting at Mayor James Hahn's direction - said he and Chief Bernard Parks have come up with an American flag pin that will be purchased at city expense and distributed at no cost to officers as soon as possible.

Caruso said he thinks Parks was justified in restricting officers from wearing other pins that lacked LAPD approval.

``I think Chief Parks did the right thing,'' Caruso said. ``I think it becomes a very difficult thing to control the integrity of the uniform and balance that against the wishes of the officers and certain organizations.

``I think the DARE pin was a completely appropriate direction to go. But since there were unique circumstances, I think the American flag on its own is fine.''

Many officers were dissatisfied at being limited to the DARE pin, even though it has the flag of the United States, because they wanted something that would specifically indicate their patriotism as well as honor the victims of the tragedy.

Hoping to do that, the Police Protective League had purchased 10,000 pins to distribute to officers. The organization's members grew increasingly angry that Parks would not allow officers to wear them on their LAPD uniforms.

The PPL pin has an American flag with the words ``Remember 9-11.'' The ``11'' is portrayed by the World Trade Center's twin towers, which collapsed on Sept. 11.

A PPL official said even though their pin is still not approved, they are pleased with the decision.

``We applaud the efforts of the Police Commission,'' said Peter Repovich, a PPL director.

The PPL will continue to go through the department's procedures to try to get its own pin approved, he added, because officers want to honor the police and firefighters who died in the World Trade Center attacks.

In a prepared statement, the LAPD said: ``Due to the overwhelming desire of our employees to display their support, compassion and patriotism for the victims of our recent national tragedy and our military personnel, the Department has decided to issue a commemorative pin to all civilian and sworn personnel as soon as it can be produced and released by the manufacturer.''