Foot Patrol Gets Cold Shoulder

The city says it can’t find the money to extend the Los Angeles Police Department’s foot patrol program. How is this possible?

This is the acclaimed cop-on-the-beat program that is supported by virtually every neighborhood group in Los Angeles. Its many fans aver that it helps deter crime and reassure frightened citizens who live in high-crime areas by providing them with a high-profile police presence. And police officers are elated about a program that not only appears to work but also attracts such praise.

The price tag for continuing the program of putting cops on neighborhoods streets? Only $3 million, but they say the city is so strapped for funds that even this piddling amount is too heavy a financial lift for now. They--the politicians--say the municipal fiscal picture is close to tap city.

The first reaction to this poverty plea is a considerable measure of cynicism. Politicians spend enough money on dumb things (or worse) that it stretches credulity that in a $3-billion budget a few extra million cannot be somehow squeezed. The issue is in fact a contest of wills between the City Council and Chief Daryl F. Gates, who is resisting the notion that foot-patrol funding come out of his overtime budget and is threatening to suspend the program. He says those funds were designed for emergencies, not patrol.

Up in Sacramento some legislators are moving on a special “foot beat” bill that would fund the Los Angeles program and also provide money for more cops in crime-plagued areas of San Diego and San Jose. Maybe that’s the way to get the LAPD the money. But it does seem odd that the politicians down here would misread the public mood by so wide a margin and fiddle around with a program that doesn’t cost so much money and appears to work so well.