Terrorism academy is focus of trip

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton is heading to Washington, D.C., to pitch federal authorities on the creation of a national anti-terrorism academy.

He will be joined by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who has begun seeking local support for a separate tactical training center where officers could get hands-on experience in responding to terrorist threats.

The two projects could make Southern California a national center for terrorism study, Bratton said Friday.

Sheriff’s Department representatives briefed their LAPD counterparts this week on creating a Southern California Regional Homeland Security and Emergency Operations Center at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. The center would allow police, fire and medical personnel to hold exercises in mock villages or neighborhoods as well as a fake airline terminal, where chemical, biological and radiation attacks would be simulated.

“Sheriff Baca has been working very aggressively on creating ... an actual strategic and tactical training area which would give hands-on training in every facet of counter-terrorism and natural disasters,” Bratton said. The academy would complement the training center by blending theory developed there with the center’s training, he said.

Bratton and Baca are scheduled to meet with officials of the departments of Justice and Homeland Security next week, during which the chief will make a pitch for federal funds and participation in the fleshed-out academy proposal.

Since proposing the academy in September, Bratton has had his staff develop plans that could establish the academy at the Los Alamitos facility, the LAPD’s Ahmanson Training Academy in Westchester or a university.

The facility would be open to law enforcement officers nationwide.

“We have now fleshed that out,” Bratton said. “It’s the idea of a training academy to look at the theory, history and evolution of terrorism, whether it’s the Muslim fanatical issues dealing with Al Qaeda or the homegrown threats that the Brits have been looking at.”

A working group of experts from USC, UCLA and other schools has developed the outline of a curriculum that they envision being provided to hundreds of law enforcement personnel each year, said Deputy Chief Mark Leap, head of counter-terrorism for the Los Angeles Police Department.

There would be four or five courses each for executive managers, middle managers, line officers and counter-terrorism investigators, Leap said.

Leap and Bratton said they are very supportive of Baca’s proposal to open a tactical training center at Los Alamitos.

“It would have several villages to simulate scenarios with various types of weapons of mass destruction,” Leap said, listing suicide bombings, chemical and biological attacks and radiation disbursement.

Leap said the proposal was at the stage where various law enforcement agencies were being asked to sign a letter of intent to participate, after which a joint powers authority would be formed to seek funding and approvals.

Baca said Friday that he thought it was too early to discuss the Los Alamitos proposal, which he said would need state, local and federal approval.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com