LOCAL 2004: CITY STILL SCROUNGING FOR MORE COPS MAYOR, CHIEF EYE NEW TAX VOTE FOR MARCH BALLOT.

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

Despite many proposals to enlarge the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department, the 9,100-member force is ending 2004 with no more police than a year ago, and little hope of dramatic expansion soon.

The proposal at the center of LAPD expansion efforts in 2004 was a countywide sales-tax increase that would have paid for 1,260 new LAPD officers as well as more sheriff's deputies and other personnel, services and equipment. Voters defeated it Nov. 2.

The one-half percent tax hike received nearly 60 percent of votes countywide and 64 percent in the city - less than the two-thirds approval it needed.

After the defeat, Mayor James Hahn, Police Chief William Bratton and other officials pushed for a city-only measure that would appear on the March 2005 ballot. But City Council members demurred, saying the proponents needed more time to launch a successful campaign.

Undeterred, Hahn and Bratton now are seeking a one-half percent city sales tax increase on the May 2005 ballot.

Bratton said if voters pass the May ballot initiative it would generate $206 million a year, enough to pay for 1,200 police officers, some new paramedics, upgraded communications systems to enhance contact between police and firefighters, and about $20 million to $30 million for crime-preventing after-school programs.

The proposal is one of several ideas introduced late in 2004 to expand the LAPD, which has fewer than half as many officers per capita as many big cities, including New York.

Other officials came up with other ideas during 2004 for expanding the police force.

Councilman Greig Smith proposed a $200 million bond issue, to be paid off with money from Proposition 1A, a state constitutional amendment voters approved Nov. 2 to protect local government revenues.

Councilwoman Wendy Greuel won support from the council to create a public-safety trust fund to be funded largely by making city government more efficient. Her first step was, according to city estimates, expected to save $500,000 by consolidating dozens of toll-free city telephone lines.

State Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, a candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, suggested merging various municipal security forces and requiring the city Airport, Harbor and Water and Power departments to contribute $225 million to the LAPD.

Bratton said he remains committed to the idea of a sales tax.

``The good news is, everybody's coming up with a proposal,'' Bratton said. ``The bad news is, everybody's coming up with a proposal. We've got to find some common ground.''

Developer Rick Caruso, a member of the Police Commission, offered to tap into his personal wealth to pay the cost of gathering signatures to put another sales tax increase on the ballot, if the council balks at putting it to a public vote.

James Nash, [phone]

james.nash(at)dailynews.com