MORTGAGE PLAN TO GET CITY REVIEW\City police officers would get rate cut.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

The Police Commission agreed Tuesday to study the feasibility of allowing private lenders to provide mortgage rate discounts as incentives for LAPD officers to live in Los Angeles.

The commission directed Police Chief Willie L. Williams and the City Attorney's Office to study the implications of the proposal put forward by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

The ACLU proposed the plan because of concern over a survey conducted by the organization in 1994, which found that more than 83 percent of LAPD officers live outside the city, many in suburban areas some distance from the communities they police.

ACLU spokesman Allan Parachini told the panel that three banks have so far expressed "guarded interest" in voluntarily offering mortgage discounts of from 1 to 3 percent to LAPD officers who move to Los Angeles but are looking for the endorsement of the commission. He refused to identify the financial institutions but said the program would not require any city money.

Parachini said having more officers live in Los Angeles would "connect" them more to the community they serve.

"We are saying we believe it would be healthier for there to be a greater proportion of officers who live in the city," Parachini said. "We are talking about a straight economic incentive, an incentive that would put $2,000 to $4,000 in cash back in the pockets of officers who wanted to establish primary residences in the city of L.A."

Commissioners agreed to ask for the study after Police Protective League President Cliff Ruff said the union might support the proposal, depending on how it is drafted. Still, Ruff said the incentives may not be enough to get officers to move to Los Angeles.

"The Protective League would not be opposed to any economic benefit that would be applied to police officers without strings attached," Ruff told the panel, "But, the reality is that new police officers and veteran police officers cannot afford to live in safe (L.A.) neighborhoods."

Commissioners voiced concern that officers may not feel comfortable with the level of safety in the neighborhoods they police.

"I think the irony of the statement that police officers won't go to (live in) the neighborhoods in this city because they are unsafe is really quite a statement that has many implications," said Commissioner Ray Fisher.

Ruff explained that officers living in neighborhoods they police might become the target of retaliation by persons they arrest.

"When they go home, they don't want to take their job with them." Ruff said, adding "That officer also wants a neighborhood where he's not going to be the recipient of drive-by shots."