Council Again Votes for Fingerprint ID System

Spurning a request by Mayor Tom Bradley, the Los Angeles City Council reaffirmed its intent Tuesday to acquire a $6-million computerized fingerprint identification system--to the delight of Los Angeles Police Department officials.

Bradley, who favors the city’s participation in a less costly countywide fingerprinting program, had asked council members to hold back on its earlier decision to purchase a separate computer system for city police.

But the council rejected Bradley’s request that the process of preparing specifications for bids on the fingerprint system be temporarily halted.

Instead, the council voted 12-1 to adopt a system similar to a state computer model that helped identify Richard Ramirez as the suspect in the “Night Stalker” murder case as well as suspects in the slaying last fall of two college students in Westwood.

Los Angeles Police Cmdr. William M. Rathburn said the system could help clear 25,000 additional cases annually and hailed the vote. As it is, he said, the department lacks the staff to conduct fingerprint checks routinely in criminal investigations, and either does not conduct them or depends on the state system.

“We have 7,000 police officers in this department who are very excited about the prospect of having this kind of technology available to them. . . . I think that’s the significance to the council action,” he said.

At the urging of police, the council had agreed last October to purchase a computerized system that will enable police to make an estimated 100,000 fingerprint searches each year from fingerprints found at crime scenes.

That purchase was subject to the mayor’s approval, and Bradley withheld his support.

In a letter Monday to council members, Bradley asked council members not to make a decision pending a further review of costs and alternatives.

Bradley told reporters Tuesday that he is not opposed to a city fingerprint system but that a regional or county system, now under study, could tie into the state program and “save a great deal of money.”

But in rebuffing the mayor, the council made it clear that it was eager to proceed on its own.

“That state system is busting bad guys every single day, and we are sitting here, frankly, taking much too long to make this acquisition. . . .,” said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who chairs the council’s Finance and Revenue Committee.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who chairs the council’s Police, Fire and Safety Committee, also dismissed the idea of tying into a regional system that he said would simply prove inadequate for the city--providing for only 20% of the fingerprint searches that police officials say they need.

“We must give our police the tool that they need to do the job, and this is a very, very important tool,” said Bernson, who added that the council can still change its mind about the system when the final bids are in.

Although Bradley can still veto the $6-million appropriation, the mayor told reporters that the city will be involved in a fingerprint system. “Whether it is our own or whether it is tied into a regional system,” he said, “I have not made that judgment yet.”

Bernson said the costs of the system would be borne by the general fund or through a $6-million surplus fund that has been set aside for police work on narcotics-related crime. Rathburn, who is coordinating the fingerprint project for police, said the system, if approved, can be ready by February, 1987.