Deputies OK Service Limits in Drug Units : Sheriff’s Department: Two unions agree to a plan that would restrict officers to 5-year stints on narcotics duty. The reform, designed to limit misconduct, comes in the wake of a money-skimming scandal.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and two unions have tentatively agreed to limit deputies to five-year stints as narcotics investigators in the first administrative reform after suspensions of 26 narcotics officers in a money-skimming scandal.

The agreement between the Sheriff’s Department and two union groups representing more than 7,000 officers must be ratified by the Board of Supervisors. The matter has not yet been scheduled.

“I think the longer an individual is in a unit with certain kinds of temptations, it does to some extent increase the possibility of misconduct,” Assistant Sheriff Jerry Harper said this week in explaining the five-year time limit.

Seven of the 10 narcotics officers indicted in March on federal charges related to the alleged theft of $1.4 million in drug money had served with the department for more than 14 years. Records indicate that at least half of those indicted would have been transferred out of narcotics units had the five-year “sunset” rule been in effect.

Other reforms proposed by Sheriff Sherman Block--including financial disclosure for some employees--remain under negotiation with the unions.

Harper said that, besides reducing the potential for misconduct, the five-year limit would also permit more sheriff’s deputies to serve on the narcotics teams.

The tentative agreement would also limit officers to five years of service in the sheriff’s vice and special investigations units. A seven-year limit would be imposed on members of the special weapons teams.

The rule would apply only to new members of all the units. At the end of special assignments, officers would have to leave the units for five or seven years before another tour of duty.

The Los Angeles Police Department has no limit on service for narcotics officers. Vice detectives serve a maximum of 18 months, and internal affairs investigators are limited to two-year terms.

Leaders of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and the Professional Peace Officers Assn., which represents sergeants and lieutenants, said they supported the time limits as a means of promoting movement within the department.

“Management felt that the longer you stayed in an assignment the more chance of something (negative) occurring,” said Art Reddy, president of the Professional Peace Officers Assn. “We do not feel that way at all. But we think that it will probably afford more people an opportunity to work special assignments.”

Shortly after the March indictments, Block also said he intended to institute a policy of financial disclosure for some members of the department. Although he would not identify the assignments that would require financial reviews, they reportedly include narcotics investigators, department officials said.

The indicted deputies allegedly lived beyond their means, using drug money to buy boats, vacation homes or other costly items.

Union and Sheriff’s Department officials declined to discuss the financial disclosure issue, but a source familiar with the employees’ position said the department wants full financial reports on some employees and their spouses.

Deputies are particularly distressed by the suggestion that spouses might be forced to disclose personal financial information, the source said.

Richard Shinee, an attorney for the deputies union, declined to comment on the financial disclosure proposal. But Shinee said that officers he represents in the West Covina Police Department vehemently opposed a similar proposal. “They were very upset, because they saw no valid reason for it,” he said.

Officers in the Philadelphia Police Department also fought against financial disclosure, in 1986, but a federal appellate court ruled that officers applying for sensitive positions could be required to disclose financial data such as debts, loans, income sources and a host of other information.

Assistant Sheriff Harper said the department will limit its reforms to the “sunset” rules and financial disclosure. He said that unlike some other major departments, the Sheriff’s Department will not ask potential narcotics officers to submit to special psychological tests.

In the Chicago Police Department, officers must submit to a battery of psychological tests and interviews before serving on narcotics teams. The screening is designed to eliminate officers who are unstable, antisocial or prone to alcohol abuse or theft, said Ed Wodnicki, the department’s deputy superintendent.

Harper said the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department gets enough information on its employees by reviewing their job histories.