Bradley Labels Ferraro Charge ‘Dirty Politics’

Mayor Tom Bradley Friday defended the distribution of police officers in the city, characterizing criticism from his mayor’s race rival, Councilman John Ferraro, as “misinformation” amounting to “dirty politics.”

Ferraro has criticized Bradley’s administration for “favoring one neighborhood over another” in police protection, and on Thursday he cited as an example the transfer of some police officers from the San Fernando Valley to a South-Central task force.

When asked if he thought that Ferraro was using the South-Central example to raise apprehension among the predominantly white Valley residents, Bradley said he “did not know if that’s a tactic of pitting racial groups or communities against each other. As the campaign moves along, if that becomes clear, I’ll respond to it.”

When asked directly if he expected any type of racist campaign, he replied, “I hope not. John’s a nice guy and and I hope that he will not permit his campaign staff to get him into an ugly kind of campaign such as we have had in the past.”

Ferraro ‘Irritated’

Ferraro, however, said he was “irritated and disappointed” that Bradley “would bring racism into this campaign.”

Bradley said Ferraro was using “misinformation” about how and where police officers are used to promote his contention that the South-Central district was getting additional police protection at the expense of the Valley.

A retired police lieutenant, Bradley said the Police Department often reassigns officers “when there’s a special problem, to deal with it.”

Asked at a breakfast with reporters if Ferraro’s approach was not a good strategy since he is trying to draw heavy support in the Valley, Bradley replied, “If it’s factual, yes; if it’s a lie as it is in this case, I say no, that’s dirty politics.”

Ferraro was unswayed by Bradley’s counterattack.

“Tom Bradley becomes very pro-police only once every four years,” Ferraro said in his office. “If pointing that out is dirty politics or an attack campaign, I’m going to attack.”

Some Valley residents, including Deputy Police Chief Dan Sullivan, complained a few months ago when nine officers from the Valley were assigned to the department’s 29-member task force that is fighting violent crime in two housing projects in South-Central Los Angeles. That task force also drew officers from other parts of the city.

Cites Another Shift

Shortly after the housing project task force was formed, Bradley added, “There was a group of about 75 officers shifted to Van Nuys Boulevard to conduct a special sweep on drunk driving. I didn’t hear anybody complain about that.”

That sweep involved Valley traffic officers who were brought together during the holidays to concentrate on areas that had the highest incidence of drunk-driving problems, said Capt. Albert Fried, of the San Fernando Valley traffic division. All of the officers used were traffic officers from the Valley and were used in the Valley, although some sections ended up “with not much attention,” Fried said.