Toward a 21st-Century LAPD . . .

Ten years from now the city of Los Angeles will be on the threshold of the 21st Century. And while it may be an exciting time to live in the City of the Angels, it will also be a troubling time if our public safety resources do not keep up with our growth.

Part of the future planning process begins on Tuesday. Citizens throughout the city have a chance to decide just how safe this city will be in the coming years. Voters will be asked to vote on a ballot measure, Proposition 2, which will have a major impact on the quality of their Police Department, and the overall quality of life in Los Angeles, in the next century. Scarce funds and poor maintenance have left the working and training facilities of the most expensive part of city government in an overcrowded and dilapidated condition. But Proposition 2, the Police Facilities Bond Measure, will provide $176 million to expand, rebuild or refurbish every police station in the city and build a new, modern training academy.

Hundreds of our police officers and detectives are working out of police stations built as far back as 1925. The academy, which has no decent classrooms, was constructed in 1935. The shooting ranges there were built in the 1920s. One of our stations has been declared earthquake unsafe by the Bureau of Engineering, and Cal-OSHA recently threatened to close one of our detective squad rooms because 43 detectives were crammed into a room designed for 16.

The simple fact is, while the LAPD is on its way to becoming a 10,000-officer department, our personnel are already crammed into aging, inadequate and unsafe facilities, some constructed well over 60 years ago. We do the best we can, but there is no way taxpayers are getting the best return on their investment (about $1.3 million per day in direct operating costs alone).

Proposition 2 will be a minimal cost to taxpayers, considering the significant benefit it will have in terms of public safety. For about $1.33 per month, (4 1/2 cents per day), property owners can provide the funds necessary to house not only our existing personnel, but provide the additional space needed as the department increases in personnel strength. Proposition 2 will provide funds for a new station in the San Fernando Valley and a second new facility to serve the growing Mid-Wilshire and West Los Angeles areas. Proposition 2 will also replace our three oldest stations (77th, Newton and North Hollywood) that combined represent 159 years of wear and tear.

A new academy will be constructed, which is vital if we are to recruit and train the 5,000 new officers we will need during the next 10 years to fill vacancies due to retirements as well as projected growth. Proposition 2 will also add 900 to 1,000 new jail spaces and two female jails. This is especially important in that we spend more than 100,000 hours annually transporting female arrestees to the San Fernando Valley or to Sybil Brand in East Los Angeles, taking patrol officers out of their communities and off the streets for extended periods of time.

We can reasonably project and theorize what the public safety needs will be in Los Angeles in 10 years. We can ignore those projections and watch drugs, gangs and graffiti slowly invade and erode every community from the San Fernando Valley to San Pedro. Or, we can provide for a safer Los Angeles, just as far-sighted citizens in the early part of this century provided for our water needs. Today, citizens have an opportunity to be equally farsighted by providing for our safety needs well into the next century by voting yes on Proposition 2.