County in Talks to Shift Sheriff’s Base From L.A. : Law enforcement: Proposed purchase of Monterey Park site for new headquarters comes at time of anticipated $15-million departmental cutback.

While proposing to slash the budget for law enforcement, Los Angeles County officials are negotiating to buy a new headquarters for Sheriff Sherman Block.

County officials have made an undisclosed offer to buy the five-story Ameron corporate building in Monterey Park for new administrative offices for the sheriff and a staff of 500. They are now headquartered in the aging county Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles.

“I really love this old building,” Block said Tuesday. “But the reality is that it is approaching 70 years.”

County officials refused to provide a price tag for the Ameron building. But the proposed $11.1-billion county budget includes $3 million in first year’s debt service for a $37-million bond issue to finance acquisition of a new sheriff’s headquarters.

The proposed acquisition comes while county supervisors consider budget cuts in virtually every department, including the sheriff’s.

Block said the proposed budget would require $15 million in cuts to his department. He has not yet targeted any specific programs.

The sheriff defended the purchase of a new headquarters, saying that his move out of the Hall of Justice would open space to county departments that rent offices in privately owned buildings.

The 12.5-acre Ameron building site near the Long Beach and San Bernardino freeways was selected, county officials said, because it is close to a number of county facilities--including two jails operated by the sheriff, Biscailuz Center and Sybil Brand Institute.

Block said the move also would reduce traffic congestion in the Civic Center, while placing the sheriff’s command personnel closer to a neighborhood served by the sheriff.

“We serve East Los Angeles, and the people out there would like very much to have us located in their community,” Block said.

The sheriff provides law enforcement in 42 cities and unincorporated communities and runs the county jails.

The 15-story Hall of Justice, with its distinct Italian Renaissance facade of gray California granite, was built in 1925. Dominating a city block along Temple Street from Broadway to Spring Street, the building was the main center for criminal justice in Los Angeles until the Criminal Courts Building opened in 1973.

The Hall of Justice does not meet earthquake standards. Nor is the facility, which was evacuated in a 1988 fire, fitted with a sprinkler system.

There are no immediate plans to relocate 1,800 prisoners housed in the jail on the building’s upper floors.

County officials have been negotiating to buy the Ameron building since January.

William F. Stewart, director of the county Internal Services Department, said he sent a confidential memo to supervisors this year advising them of the sheriff’s interest in acquiring the Ameron building.

Asked why the department did not seek approval of the board before beginning negotiations, Stewart said, “It’s not very practical because the first question that the board will be asking is how much will it be.”

The board, however, must approve the purchase.

Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Kenneth Hahn said they support the purchase.

“There is a need for the Sheriff’s Department to have a modern facility,” Antonovich said.

Supervisors Deane Dana and Gloria Molina were noncommittal. Supervisor Ed Edelman could not be reached.

Richard B. Dixon, the county’s chief administrative officer, has endorsed the move.

“Where they are now makes no sense,” he said. “We’d like to get them out of the Civic Center. It is not an area where they patrol. Nor is it convenient to an area where they patrol.”

Dixon cautioned that no agreement has been reached on purchase of the Ameron building.

“This may or may not come to pass,” he said. “The location is about perfect. It is near a large conglomeration of sheriff’s assets and could be a lot cheaper than to build something from scratch.”