Outside Firm OKd to Study LAPD Officer Deployment

The Los Angeles Police Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to hire an outside firm to study the manner in which the Police Department deploys its patrol officers throughout the city.

Responding to pressure from community groups that for months have been demanding the study, the commission decided to ask a consulting firm to examine the department’s deployment formula, which distributes a pool of 1,342 officers, and another plan under which another 1,143 officers are deployed.

No deadline was set for completion of the study, which will begin after a consulting firm is selected through competitive bidding, commission Secretary Bill Cowdin said. Bidding is expected to be opened within a week.

The South-Central Organizing Committee and the United Neighborhoods Organization, groups that claim to represent 130,000 families between them on the city’s south and east sides, have contended that the department’s deployment practices currently deprive their predominantly minority neighborhoods of their fair share of police officers.

Groups Made Threat

The two groups had threatened to withhold their support of a proposed ballot measure to increase the number of police officers through a tax increase unless the commission changes the deployment formula, which critics say favors more affluent, Anglo neighborhoods.

But in spite of the commission’s decision, which spokesmen for the groups hailed as “a major victory,” representatives of the organizations said their support of the ballot measure will depend on how the study progresses.

“We have to be sure there are going to be some changes before we support the ‘1,000 plan’ or any other plan,” UNO spokesman Father Bryan Jones said, referring to the proposal before the City Council to increase the number of police officers by 1,000 officers.

Last August, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates told community groups he had no objection to an outside study on the deployment formula. Gates contends that the formula ensures the fairest distribution possible of what he sees as an understaffed patrol force.

No Opposition Voiced

Gates voiced no opposition to the decision to hire an outside firm, but he said the study should be focused on how quickly police units respond to calls for service and how effectively the department suppresses crime.

The deployment formula combines six factors, ranging from crime and calls for service to street miles and population. It then distributes a pool of 1,342 officers to the city’s 18 geographical divisions based on each area’s computed workload.

Another 1,143 officers are deployed according to the department’s basic car plan, which is intended to provide minimum police service by dividing the city into 127 districts. Each district is patrolled by nine officers on a rotating basis.

Commissioner Robert Talcott made the motion for the outside firm to examine both the formula and the basic car plan to see if the 2,485 officers the two policies affect “are deployed properly.”