Use of Desk Officers for Foot Patrols OKd

In the wake of Mayor Tom Bradley’s refusal to provide $2.5 million for police foot patrols, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates has approved a plan to mobilize desk-bound officers to walk the beats twice a month, officials said Thursday.

The plan to mobilize administrators, tentatively scheduled to begin in late October, would allow police to deploy the popular foot beats without dipping into budgetary reserves, police spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said.

“We see this as a reasonable and feasible way within our current budget to meet the needs the community has voiced,” Booth said.

Initial plans called for plainclothes officers through the rank of sergeant, who work administrative or desk jobs, to don uniforms and walk beats two days during each 28-day period.

Booth and other administrators denied that the plan is a response to Bradley’s veto of a City Council plan to fund foot patrols in 18 of the city’s crime hot spots with an allocation of $2.5 million. The mayor recommended that the council approve a $750,000 expenditure for a three-month pilot foot-patrol program.