OT EYED TO FILL UP COP CARS SET MINIMUM BASIC PATROL LEVELS, COUNCILMAN URGES.

Byline: BETH BARRETT Staff Writer

With police patrols stretched thin across the city and gang violence soaring in the San Fernando Valley, Councilman Greig Smith wants to set minimum service levels and pay overtime to fill gaps in patrol car staffing.

Smith said he'll introduce a motion today to open a comprehensive debate on paying time and a half for other officers to fill in for those whose illness, injuries or other assignments keep them out of basic two-officer patrol cars that handle radio calls and are the backbone of neighborhood crime-fighting.

``We've raided the patrol function, which is the basic function of the Police Department,'' Smith said Thursday.

``We've operated in a loose vacuum where we put money in the patrol budget, and then the department takes from it whenever they want it for other tasks.''

He said the Los Angeles Police Department has failed to show how the $91 million it spent in overtime last fiscal year brought down crime, while the number of staffed basic cars -- generally the first responders to radio calls -- has declined.

Smith's plan is modeled after one for the city Fire Department, which has minimum levels for staffing stations and has used overtime pay to maintain them.

LAPD Assistant Chief of Operations Earl Paysinger said he believes that the Fire Department's plan is a ``very intelligent response to public safety.'' He said he is glad to see attention paid to a minimum-staffing issue for the Police Department.

He said whether overtime or some other means is used, the proposal underscores the necessity for more officers.

``The question is one and the same: What is the best, most meaningful way to put officers on the street? What's the smartest way to get it done?''

Critics questioned paying overtime for basic police services, and some LAPD leaders cautioned that such a plan would have to be crafted to avoid hampering managers' flexibility in fighting crime.

Councilman Bernard Parks, the LAPD's former chief and a critic of the three-day workweek that 70 percent of LAPD officers currently have, said paying time and a half for patrols that could be done on a regular shift would create a ``spiral we can't get out of.''

Parks said when the LAPD had a five-day schedule, a basic patrol car could be staffed year-round by 10 officers, and 162 basic cars were staffed, but that's no longer possible.

Noting that the department already regularly overspends its overtime allocation, he also questioned where additional OT funds could be found.

``Overtime is better used for emergencies,'' Parks said.

Smith's motion, which doesn't address the popular 12-hour shift, is generally supported by the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

``We cannot wait for the long-term solution of more officers being hired,'' league President Bob Baker said. ``This plan will put hundreds of police officers on the street overnight, which will enhance public safety.

``Until we can solve our recruitment problem, constant staffing is the only way Angelenos can have any confidence that an officer will be available when he or she is needed.''

Flexibility wanted

LAPD leaders said while a debate on how to put more officers on the street has merit, restrictions on deployment and the use of OT could be problematic.

LAPD Deputy Chief Michel Moore, the San Fernando Valley's top commander, said too narrowly defining managerial issues can be counterproductive because crime-fighting emergencies arise, such as the current fight against escalating gang violence in the Valley.

``It ought to be given to the police professionals ... to improve public safety.''

Nonetheless, Moore called it a great idea if funds could be found to keep the city's basic patrol cars -- 48 of them in the Valley -- fully staffed to maintain speedy response times and high quality of service.

``You don't want a culture where (basic) cars are just a response unit going from call to call to call, ... where they don't deliver the quality of service.''

But Moore said ``secondary units'' whose primary mission is more specialized can be used to backstop the basic cars.

For example, on Wednesday the Valley had 42 basic cars during the evening shift and only 37 during the day shift, instead of 48. Those cars were backed up, however, by more than an equal number of secondary units working on traffic, anti-gang enforcement and other details, Moore said.

1,000 new officers

Acting City Administrative Officer Karen Sisson said OT money probably could come from $30 million in general funds freed up by a new trash fee, but that money also has been tagged for hiring 1,000 new officers. She questioned placing rigid constraints.

``It's harder to hold a manager accountable for the results that the mayor and citizens expect because you need flexibility to see that those goals are achieved.''

Smith's motion, which asks the LAPD, union and top city bureaucrats to report back to the council on a comprehensive program for establishing a ``minimum deployment plan,'' is to go to the committees on Public Safety and Budget and Finance for initial recommendations.

Councilman Jack Weiss, Public Safety Committee chairman, said he supported elements of the plan in general, but that details need to be worked out.

``The department is properly concerned about anything that might inappropriately tie the chief's hands in where to deploy resources. The chief needs flexibility to fight crime.''

Smith said comprehensive evaluation of police deployment is key to the city's public safety.

``We haven't had this (deployment) discussion in 35 years,'' Smith said. ``It's been piecemealed. ... To put officers on the street of Los Angeles is our foremost responsibility.''

beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com

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