The Region - News from March 26, 1986

Funding for a yearlong pilot project that will nearly triple the number of police officers investigating child abuse cases was unanimously approved by the Los Angeles Police Commission. The $1.4-million project, which requires City Council approval, will add 25 officers to the 14 now assigned to the Police Department’s Child Abuse Division. As many as 18 of the new officers will be assigned to the San Fernando Valley, and the rest to South Los Angeles. The project comes in response to a report by Police Chief Daryl F. Gates last year stating that police are having a hard time keeping up with the growing number of child abuse cases. Such cases increased more than 260% between 1974 and 1984, police said, and last year officers handled 3,855 child abuse reports.