Private Financing of Police Patrols Concerns Officials : Blythe Street Plan Would Set Bad Precedent, 2 L. A. Councilmen Say

An offer by Panorama City apartment owners to raise money to pay for increased police patrols in their crime-ridden neighborhood received a lukewarm reception Friday from members of the Los Angeles City Council, but officials in other major cities have encouraged such “rent-a-cop” arrangements.

Several key Los Angeles council members said Friday that the proposed arrangement would set a dangerous precedent that would allow affluent neighborhoods to get better police protection than poorer areas. The Panorama City apartment owners want to give $35,000 to the city for increased police patrols on a half-mile stretch of Blythe Street between Van Nuys Boulevard and Brimfield Avenue.

Councilman Richard Alatorre, chairman of the Public Safety Committee and a member of the Finance Committee, suggested that the Blythe Street apartment owners hire private security guards to help get drug dealers and gang members off the street.

The area has been plagued for years by the dealers, who frequently rent apartments and sell their wares from the curb. The stubborn problem began to return after a two-year campaign by police to crush the trade had ended.

‘Fundamental Problems’

“I have real fundamental problems with this proposal,” Alatorre said. “What could happen is that, if you have money, you’re going to get more police officers.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, a member of the Finance Committee, said: “Much as I sympathize with the people on Blythe Street, we can’t set up a system where those who can afford it get more patrols, and those who can’t don’t. There aren’t enough police officers citywide. That’s why we’re increasing the size of the Police Department by 500 officers a year for the next five years.”

Apartment owners along Blythe Street said Friday that they were disappointed by the council’s reaction to their proposal. It is supported by Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents the area. If approved by the council, the proposed arrangement would mark the first time in city history that private money would be used to increase patrols.

The apartment owners’ money would be enough to provide for overtime pay for two uniformed officers to patrol the neighborhood eight hours each day for about 2 1/2 months.

The owners said hiring private security guards would not deter drug dealers in the area because the guards cannot make arrests. But they said adding police patrols has already been effective.

Special Task Force

From July, 1987, through May, a special narcotics task force of 13 uniformed officers borrowed from police divisions throughout the San Fernando Valley combed the area for drug dealers. Apartment owners said the situation improved significantly as a result.

Apartment owner Victor M. Meyerstein, who suggested the contribution, urged the council to “stop being so conservative” and approve the proposed donation.

Officials in Miami and San Francisco, where residents may hire officers to conduct extra patrols of their neighborhoods, said the practice has aided them in fighting crime.

The Miami Police Department allows off-duty, uniformed officers to earn extra pay by working for merchants and other groups, such as condominium associations, concerned about crimes such as burglary. The Police Department administers the program, assigning a rotating pool of about 450 officers to the extra patrols each month to prevent officers from burning out by working too many extra hours, said Odalys Mon, a spokeswoman for Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez.

The program, which began in the early 1970s, has never been criticized for distributing police services unfairly, Mon said. She said the patrols are popular among the department’s 1,100 police officers because they can earn extra money at a rate of $16 per hour. Other law enforcement agencies in Florida, such as the Dade County Sheriff’s Department and the Florida Highway Patrol, have similar programs, she said.

In San Francisco, the Police Department’s 1,750 officers may moonlight as security guards but cannot wear uniforms on most off-duty assignments. That is true in many cities, including Los Angeles.

Bequeath Territory

The San Francisco Police Department has 40 employees known as “patrol specials” or “rent-a-cops” who are paid by residents and merchants to patrol specific territories or beats. When a patrol special retires, he may bequeath his territory to his heirs or sell it, sometimes for as much as $200,000, said Lt. Willie Frazier, secretary to the San Francisco Police Commission.

Unlike regular police officers, who may make arrests even when off duty, patrol specials may arrest suspects only while on duty, Frazier said. They carry guns, wear uniforms similar to those of the rest of the force and are supervised by police captains, but they receive less than half the 400 hours of training required by the state for regular officers, Frazier said.

The program began at the start of World War II when police officers were drafted to fight and quick replacements were needed, he said.

Frazier said the program has aided police in fighting crime and has not come under fire for allowing wealthier neighborhoods to get better police protection than poorer ones. But he said the program has been criticized this year because of abuses of power by some patrol specials, including one who repeatedly used his gun to shoot at pigeons on the waterfront. Frazier said that patrolman was pressured to sell his beat.

Extra Protection

In New York and Chicago, police spokesmen said, their departments are prohibited from accepting private money for extra patrols because of concerns such as those raised in Los Angeles. New York Police Sgt. Peter Sweeney said, however, that merchants along 42nd Street and near Grand Central Station recently hired a private security firm run by a former New York police chief to provide extra protection.

In Los Angeles, police officers must apply to the department for permission to work as security guards and may not wear their uniforms in most cases, Cmdr. William Booth said. Exceptions to the rule must be approved by the Police Commission. Common exceptions include security and traffic control work for the movie industry, the Los Angeles Coliseum and the Los Angeles Unified School District, he said.

The department has previously accepted donations of office space, equipment, and clerical and interpretaters’ services for police substations from merchants in such areas as Koreatown, Chinatown and Baldwin Hills, Booth said. Members of the City Council, including Bernardi and the late Howard Finn, have in the past donated funds for extra patrols from their office budgets, he said.