EL TORO : LAPD Is Looking for a Few Good Men

Los Angeles Police Department recruiters gave aptitude tests to potential applicants at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station on Tuesday in an effort to fill some of the department’s 900 openings with candidates already trained in military procedures.

The tests, among the first the department has given at any military base, are the initial steps in what can be a six-month-long police training process. That didn’t discourage at least one Marine who took the test:

“It has a certain amount of prestige,” said Cpl. Chris Caduff, 24, who will be discharged on Feb. 12. He said he understood the dangers that could arise on the job: “It’s like a war out there, I guess.”

In the past, LAPD officials have recruited on military bases by holding information sessions and passing out literature. Now they have stepped up their efforts, hoping to recruit outgoing military personnel before they are discharged, said Joe Peyton, LAPD’s staff sergeant in charge of recruitment. Several weeks ago, LAPD recruiters tested potential candidates at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside.

About 10 Marines, all of whom will be discharged in the next six months, took the test at El Toro. The six who passed will next be interviewed, go through a medical exam and a physical agility test, Peyton said.

“We feel that military people are an asset to our department,” Officer Marty Feinmark told the Marines before the exams were given. “You have gone through boot camp, you have been trained, you are disciplined. Another thing is, hopefully, you are drug free.”

The department needs to fill 514 new slots, approved by the City Council last year, and an estimated 386 openings caused by attrition, Peyton said. They now have 523 recruits enrolled in the Police Academy, he said.

LAPD Officer Bill Carter, a recruiter who was at the base, said department officials anticipate a high retirement rate as officers who joined the force during the years of the Vietnam War hit 20 to 25 years on the force, enough to start collecting retirement benefits.

Although attendance at Tuesday’s session was lower than expected, Peyton said, other testing sessions have drawn about 150 potential recruits. Another session has been scheduled in February at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Feinmark told the potential recruits that starting police salaries range from $32,500 to $38,000, plus benefits. But he had a word of warning to those who might have watched a few too many Clint Eastwood movies.

“No Dirty Harry guns,” he said. “They’re all unauthorized. Keep them at home.”