L.A. police union may sue over financial disclosure requirement

In a challenge that could complicate Los Angeles’ high-profile crackdown on street gangs, leaders of the city’s police union called Thursday for gang enforcement officers to refuse to provide personal financial information as mandated by a federal decree.

Union officials, who are considering a lawsuit to block the disclosure requirement, say the Los Angeles Police Department could experience an exodus of officers from gang units just as the city is attempting to beef up gang enforcement.

Dozens of officers, union leaders say, are threatening to seek transfers to other posts if the city presses its demand.

The financial disclosure requirement was issued in response to the Rampart Division police corruption scandal, in which gang officers were caught stealing drugs and framing suspects.

The U.S. Department of Justice sought and obtained a consent decree with the city requiring that future gang officers disclose their finances so that supervisors might more easily tell if they were illegally profiting from their police work.

In the six years since the consent decree was issued, however, the department has refrained from enforcing the disclosure requirement while trying to persuade a federal judge to modify it. But last year the judge directed the department to move ahead.

Until recently, department officials had been negotiating with the union over how best to implement the mandate. But when those talks reached an impasse, union officials said they expected the department to impose the requirement as early as Tuesday.

Bob Baker, president of the Police Protective League, said his union has heard from more than 150 gang officers who say they will seek to transfer to other duties if the rule is enforced.

“Financial disclosure is an unnecessary intrusion into the private lives of officers, their spouses and their children,” Baker said. “It will offer very little protection against corruption, but will instead make officers and their families vulnerable to financial crimes such as identity theft and will subject their private lives to public scrutiny.”

Last month, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton moved to deploy extra officers in a focused attack on the worst gangs in the city. The crackdown followed a 15.7% increase in gang violence last year.

On Thursday, word of the dispute over financial disclosure alarmed some city officials.

“That concerns me greatly,” Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. “We need those officers in the gang units.”

In a statement, Bratton said he was not prepared to comment because “the department’s recommendations have not yet been passed to the Police Commission for their review, modification and approval.”

The LAPD is scheduled to meet with union officials today to discuss the dispute.

The financial disclosure requirement covers about 600 officers in sensitive jobs, including gang units and undercover narcotics operations.

The department’s past failure to comply with the requirement was one of the reasons that U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess decided last year to extend the consent decree by three more years.

The city had sought to replace the disclosure rule with a program that would have had the LAPD conduct periodic, random sting operations to make sure officers were not pocketing cash or drugs.

Bratton had said earlier that he supported the alternative, commenting that “financial disclosure, as someone who has to go through one every year [as a city official], is an incredible burden, and one that the union has made quite clear is an unfair burden on their membership.”

However, Feess rejected the change, accusing city officials of trying to “gut” a key provision of the decree aimed at guarding against corruption. The elimination of the requirement also was opposed by independent monitor Michael Cherkasky.

Also on Thursday, the Los Angeles agency overseeing gang prevention and intervention programs said it would need $285 million -- not the $75 million budgeted last year -- to reach all at-risk youths and gang members.

Today, Villaraigosa is set to meet with U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales in Los Angeles to ask for more federal assistance for such programs.

But even with additional money, the city’s Community Development Department would not be able to solve the problem of youth gangs by itself, said Richard Benbow, general manager of the agency in a report to the City Council. His department “can play a role, but ultimately, the success of an individual requires effective services throughout that individual’s life,” Benbow wrote.

Councilwoman Hahn has proposed a $50-million parcel tax for gang programs.

She said Thursday that she may have to increase the amount sought.

The mayor also recently met with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to request that the state provide $30 million in additional funds.

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com