Key Council Members Oppose Bradley Plan on Police Cuts : City finances: The mayor’s proposal calls for a reduction of 415 officers. LAPD said it could absorb such a loss but would scale back some operations.

Key City Council members said Thursday they were unwilling to go along with Mayor Tom Bradley’s proposal to cut 415 officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, even though police officials told the council they would be able to absorb such a loss.

Assistant Chief David Dotson, in City Council hearings Thursday before the council’s Finance and Revenue Committee, vowed to keep as many officers as possible on the street. But he said the department would scale back support staff and specialized units, as well as close the Elysian Park academy, if the department had to absorb Bradley’s proposal to whack 415 sworn officers from the force.

Dotson said that in a “worst-case” scenario, the department’s force in the field could be reduced by as many as 200 officers. But even that, he said, would not significantly reduce response time to emergency calls beyond the current 7-minute average.

Dotson and others warned, however, that fallout from the Rodney G. King beating incident could require higher training, staffing and legal costs soon.

Committee members said they would fight to restore at least 200 positions, and possibly the entire number of officers that Bradley has proposed cutting. The committee will send its budget recommendations to the whole council within the next several weeks.

“The proposed budget is unrealistic and, to me, unacceptable,” said Councilwoman Joy Picus. “I will not vote for a budget that cuts cops.” Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky suggested restoring 200 of the officers and Councilman Richard Alatorre recommended restoring 250.

The council members, however were less generous with other law enforcement agencies, as they threatened to impose layoffs on the city’s parking ticket writers, who they said were unproductive.

The city is facing a $177-million budget deficit that Bradley has proposed closing through $100 million in spending cuts and $77 million in new taxes.

Restoring the Police Department to its full 8,417-person force would cost an additional $13.6 million, according to Police Department figures. To restore all police programs to their full funding level would cost a total of $23 million, according to the department’s analysis.

And expenses could climb higher as the full effect of the King beating is felt, police and city attorney officials testified.

Dotson told members of the council’s Finance and Revenue Committee that if they want better “vertical” communication at the department, so that the administration has better control of officers’ conduct in the field, it will mean adding more inspectors and that will cost still more. “The lack of a top-level command staff . . . is a weakness in the department,” Dotson said.

Earlier, City Atty. James K. Hahn testified that as a result of the King incident there will be more lawsuits filed against the city and the Police Department. More cases will go to trial, requiring more preparation by a limited staff of city attorneys, and jury payouts will likely increase, he warned lawmakers in seeking increased funding for his own department.

Though Hahn’s requests received a cool reception on Wednesday, a similar Police Department recommendation made Thursday was greeted more warmly.

Dotson suggested that the council fund a special unit in the city attorney’s office that would only handle police litigation. Yaroslavsky ordered the city administrative officer to prepare a study on the proposal.