RESPONSE TIME INCREASING SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT HAMPERED BY BUDGET CUTS, STAFF SHORTAGE.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Hampered by budget cuts and a shortage of officers, the time it takes for Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies to respond to public calls for help - including life-threatening emergencies - is increasing, according to Sheriff's Department data.

Since 2002, average response times to emergency calls have grown 4 percent - to five minutes - in cities that contract with the department. In unincorporated areas, average response times have increased 3 percent to 6.4 minutes.

The time it takes deputies to respond to ``priority'' calls for such things as robberies, burglaries and domestic violence has increased 19 percent in contract cities - to 11.1 minutes - and 17 percent in unincorporated areas, to 12.9 minutes, according to the data.

Response times to ``routine'' calls like stolen vehicles, missing people and vandalism have increased 12 percent in contract cities - to 42.9 minutes - and 18 percent in unincorporated areas, to 49.9 minutes.

``This poses a danger to the public,'' said Frank H. Saunders, a police procedures expert and former Santa Monica police officer. ``When a deputy doesn't come and there is no response, criminals will be bolder about what they want to do.

``It's been a running battle for years to have enough manpower on the streets to respond to calls.''

The increasing response times come as the Board of Supervisors cut $200 million from the Sheriff's Department budget in 2002 and as the department has struggled to boost its ranks, now at 8,157 sworn officers.

Although about $100 million was restored to Sheriff Lee Baca's budget - and the department began a renewed recruitment campaign in mid-2004 - the department has only gained a handful of officers because of retirements and fierce competition with other agencies.

Baca, whose department lost about 1,000 sworn officers during the recent economic downturn, said he hopes to hire 1,000 deputies in 2006 for a net gain of 600, reducing the response times.

Baca said he believes the increased response times are mainly due to increased calls from the public. He said the number of officers at stations throughout the county has remained the same - or increased slightly - in the last few years.

However, he did eliminate special bureau teams with about 300 deputies whose jobs were to proactively fix problems in neighborhoods, make drug-related arrests and handle gang problems.

``I purposely prioritized the protection of the public during the budget cuts,'' Baca said. ``I didn't want to see less radio cars on the streets.

``But I still say the county of Los Angeles needs more police officers so the public sees a higher police presence and criminals don't have such a free, open opportunity to commit crime.

``I've said over and over again during the half-cent sales tax (campaign last year), 22,500 cops for 10 million people in the largest county in the United States is not a practical way of going about serving the public, particularly in unincorporated areas and corporated cities that have high-volume crime.''

Baca, who wants to put a quarter-percent sales tax increase on the ballot later this year to allow county law enforcement agencies to hire more officers to address gang violence, has cited statistics showing that New York City and Chicago have twice as many officers per resident.

A representative for the 7,000-member Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs said the increase in response times for priority and routine calls also indicates the department has shifted its focus to handling emergency calls at the expense of less-urgent calls.

``A sharp increase in priority call response times is a direct symptom of understaffing,'' said the representative, who did not want to be identified. ``This kind of problem has a direct impact on morale and, if not already, it will have a direct impact on public safety.''

In comparison to the Sheriff's Department's increasing response times, the Los Angeles Police Department has reduced its emergency response times by 32 percent - from 10.2 minutes in 2002 to 6.9 minutes in 2005.

The LAPD response times dropped after the department in 2004 changed how it handles and categorizes calls. Still, the LAPD's emergency-call response times are nearly two minutes longer than the Sheriff's Department.

LAPD Officer Jason Lee said it's not fair to compare the agencies because LAPD officers work in a congested city while most sheriff's deputies work in less-congested suburbs and rural areas.

The LAPD also requires each patrol car to have two officers, while about 70 percent of sheriff's patrol cars only have one deputy, meaning the Sheriff's Department has more cars on the street available to respond to calls.

In Los Angeles County, the longest response times were reported by the Lancaster and Palmdale stations. In Lancaster, response time to a routine call averaged 97.7 minutes in 2005.

Lancaster sheriff's station Lt. Gordon Carn said the population in the Antelope Valley is growing rapidly, resulting in increased calls for service.

The Antelope Valley also is 12 times bigger than the San Fernando Valley, and it can take a deputy up to an hour-and-a-half to drive across the valley.

Carn noted that average response times to routine calls in Lancaster dropped from 135 minutes in 2004 after the city agreed to free-up four deputies from having to write street-sweeping tickets.

He noted this also helped reduce response times to emergency calls by 7 percent to 5.3 minutes.

Tony Bell, spokesman for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who represents the Antelope Valley and who voted against cutting Baca's budget, said the supervisor is working to ensure unincorporated areas get more deputies.

``Supervisor Antonovich wants to see response times improved to ensure public safety,'' Bell said. ``Every resident deserves to have law enforcement responding to emergencies to save lives.''

The West Hollywood sheriff's station, which also handles calls from Universal Studios, Universal City and the federal building in Westwood, is the only sheriff's station in the county where nearly all response times improved.

Since 2002, emergency call response times dropped 5 percent to 3.6 minutes in West Hollywood and priority and routine call response times dropped as much as 23 percent.

West Hollywood sheriff's Lt. Scott Brickert said part of the reason for the drop could involve a statistical anomaly. Before supervisors started scrutinizing deputies' daily work sheets, some deputies would report when they were on their way to a call but forget to report when they had arrived.

``Once that happens, the clock may continue to run for hours, or even days, and artificially inflate our response times,'' Brickert said. ``Now that supervisors are looking for that and correcting it, it brings things more in line with what is actually happening.''

The city also recently contracted for a special team to deal solely with nighttime crimes along Sunset Boulevard.

``That probably impacts response times because they are already in the field, already in close contact with club managers and business owners, and they are able to respond oftentimes before the calls even come into the station,'' Brickert said.

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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