Making TV Waves : Action-Adventure Film to Capture Waterfront Police Drama

Last year, they answered 15,000 radio calls, made 167 arrests, issued 2,300 citations, investigated 378 hazardous cargo cases, rescued 85 stranded boats, inspected 2,711 ships and removed 190 navigational hazards from the harbor.

And not a single television series to show for it.

The Los Angeles Port Warden’s office, whose 47 deputies are the police force for Los Angeles Harbor, has watched enviously for years as Hollywood transformed the Los Angeles Police Department into a law enforcement legend--with barely a mention of the seafaring deputies from the Harbor Department.

“What this outfit lacks more than anything is recognition,” said Chief Deputy Warden Fred A. Warner, a former Los Angeles police officer, who says his deputies sometimes have trouble convincing people that they are more than sun-worshiping security guards. “They don’t get the credit due to them.”

Well, at least not yet.

Barry & Enright Productions, a Century City company that produces movies and television shows, Wednesday got approval from the Board of Harbor Commissioners to shoot a pilot film for a proposed action-adventure television series that would be based on the day-to-day activities of the port warden’s office.

Hopes to Produce Series

Filming of “Waterfront” is expected to begin in a few months, and if the pilot is successful, the production company hopes to sell the series to a network or place it in syndication next year, according to Barry & Enright representatives.

Although hundreds of movies and television shows have used Los Angeles Harbor as a backdrop--the department issued 125 film permits last year alone--port officials say “Waterfront” would be the first based on the harbor itself--and certainly the first to focus on the port wardens.

“What Adam-12 and Dragnet did for the LAPD, this series could do for the Harbor Department,” said Warner, who has been hired by the producers to review scripts and act as a technical adviser. “The harbor will be seen around the world.”

Jun Mori, president of the harbor board, said he would be satisfied if the series simply lets the rest of Los Angeles know it has a port. Mori complained that the harbor, because it is detached from most of the city, is virtually unknown by Los Angeles residents who don’t live or work in the area.

“We are going to put you on the map,” Burt Pines, a representative of Barry & Enright, assured the board.

Ample Store of Material

Warner, a one-time actor who has worked for the Harbor Department for 11 years, said there is more than enough drama and action in Los Angeles Harbor to sustain a weekly television series. And if there isn’t, Hollywood knows how to make mundane things look exciting, he said.

“If they shot things exactly as they happen here, no, it probably wouldn’t be very dramatic,” he said, acknowledging that few of his deputies have even had the occasion to fire their weapons while on duty. “But we have a nucleus of things that we can furnish and their writers can take it from there. Like every cop show, they’ll have to add cop chases, with helicopters and guns going off. Otherwise, who would watch it?”

Although they may not be of the shoot-’em-up variety, deputy wardens say their jobs are every bit as interesting as those traditionally portrayed on television police dramas. Although employees of the Harbor Department, they have the same authority as police officers.

The wardens have three patrol boats, half a dozen patrol cars and twice-a-week access to a city helicopter. Deputies patrol 28 miles of waterfront and 11 square miles of Harbor Department property--an area equal to the combined size of Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach.

While deputies acknowledge that the job sometimes lives up to its sun-and-fun reputation because of patrols in recreational areas of the harbor, they say their work is demanding, too.

Deputies come across drug smugglers, burglars, murderers, rapists, drunk boat operators, poachers, saboteurs, gang members, child molesters, toxic-waste dumpers and drowning victims.

“You name it. Whatever LAPD does, we do, too--and more,” said Al Guerrero, a deputy port warden for 13 years. “We rescue people, chase crooks, the whole thing. You have to play fireman, policeman, lifeguard and Coast Guard all wrapped up in one.”

Several years ago, when the captain of a damaged ship from the Far East sent out a signal that terrorists were aboard, deputy wardens were the first to board the vessel. The so-called terrorists, the deputies discovered, were actually two Cuban stowaways who meant no harm but were unable to communicate their good intentions to the Taiwanese captain and crew, according to Deputy Dan Ross, who led the effort to assist the ship.

Deputies also were the first to respond 10 years ago, when the oil tanker Sansinena exploded at the Union Oil terminal, killing nine sailors and blowing out windows throughout the South Bay.

“When there is a helicopter crash, we are there,” Guerrero said. “And when people jump off the (Vincent Thomas) bridge, we have to reach into the water and recover the bodies. And at night, when there is fog, it is a whole different world out there. It gets real dangerous.”

While excited about the television series, many of the deputies are not content to wait for Hollywood to lift them from obscurity. Wednesday morning, as the Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the agreement with Barry & Enright, about 10 deputies, joined by 10 airport police officers who belong to the same union, picketed outside the port’s administration building to protest poor wages.

No Formal Contract

The deputies have been working for nearly two years without a formal contract, and they say that they want wages comparable to those paid LAPD officers. Those officers make as much as $800 more a month than deputy wardens and airport police officers, union officials said.

“It is a great place to work, but we don’t feel that we are being shown any consideration,” said Deputy Warden Alan Roberts, one of those picketing. “We don’t get the respect that other law enforcement agencies get.”

In addition to wage increases, Roberts said the deputies would like the name Port Warden changed to Harbor Police so that people will recognize its authority more readily. Under state law, the department’s patrol boats are posted “Harbor Police,” but patrol cars, uniforms and badges use the term “Port Warden.”