Bradley Budget Includes No Extra Police

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, describing a “rather grim picture” for 1987-88, unveiled a proposed $2.4-billion, “hold-the-line” budget today that would at least temporarily halt further gains in the city’s police strength.

Bradley’s proposal, based on an expected loss of $100 million from the previous year, would also defer the purchase of new police cars and curtail street resurfacing and tree trimming.

It is the first time in three years Bradley has failed to recommend that the city hire 100 more officers for the Police Department, now budgeted at 7,100 officers. However, existing police, fire and paramedic services would not be cut under the mayor’s proposed budget.

Bradley said losses of $50 million in federal revenue-sharing and a $20-million, one-year interest windfall, as well as a sluggish economy in general, resulted in the tight budget.

The mayor’s plan came under immediate criticism from Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the council’s Revenue and Finance Committee, who said the fiscal practices relied on “one-time gimmicks.”

“Some fundamental changes” would be required to allow for continued gains in police forces, Yaroslavsky said. He called for elimination of the city’s Board of Public Works--”a political boondoggle . . . for political patronage jobs”--as a way to save more than $2 million that could be used for police.