Christopher Reforms’ Cost Sought : Police: Council wants a price tag for the commission’s recommendations. Estimates put it $9 million to $29 million.

City officials on Tuesday ordered a study of the cost of adopting Christopher Commission reforms proposed for the Los Angeles Police Department, and the head of the City Council’s finance committee estimated that the price tag would surpass $9 million.

In a unanimous vote, the council directed the city administrative officer to prepare an analysis of the projected costs of implementing recommendations for ending the use of unjustified force.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, estimated that the final cost could range from $9 million to $29 million.

Of particular concern, Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores said, is a recommendation that the 8,300-member department expand its so-called “community-oriented” policing efforts. Flores said implementation of the proposal could require the already financially strapped city to pay for additional officers and patrol units.

Other potentially costly recommendations would revamp the Police Department’s citizen complaint system and require officers to undergo psychological screening throughout their service with the department.

“We’re only giving the CAO two weeks to do this analysis so they are going to have to burn the midnight oil,” said Flores, who with Councilman Richard Alatorre co-authored the motion to conduct the financial study.

“Our goal is not to sabotage the recommendations, but to find out what needs to be done, how much it will cost and how we will get the money,” Flores said. “We may have to cut sacred cows that we never wanted to touch before--for example, after-school playgrounds.”

The Los Angeles Fire Department has already removed 13 engine and truck companies and six ambulances from daily service to help balance the city’s record $3.9-billion budget in the face of a projected deficit of more than $177 million.

The city’s financial troubles worsened this week when the state Supreme Court ruled that savings and loans are exempt from paying city taxes--a decision that city officials said could cost the city $230 million and severely restrict its ability to raise revenue.

But Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said the city cannot afford to cut corners on the Christopher Commission recommendations, which followed a 100-day study prompted by the police beating of Rodney G. King.

“Reform isn’t cheap, but not to reform the LAPD could be even more costly,” Ridley-Thomas said. “Over the last nine years, the tab has been $45 million in judgments and settlements.”

City Council figures show that Los Angeles has paid roughly $36 million in awards and settlements involving the Police Department over the past decade, excluding legal fees for plaintiffs’ attorneys.

On another matter, Councilman Ernani Bernardi, reviving a motion he authored in 1986, urged that the city attorney’s responsibilities be divided between an elected city criminal prosecutor and an appointed city legal counsel to handle civil matters.

“For years, we have required that the city attorney try to wear two hats, one as prosecutor of misdemeanors and the second as legal adviser to the city and its officers,” Bernardi said.

“I believe that this problem can be expected to escalate,” he said.

City Atty. James K. Hahn disagreed with Bernardi’s proposal, saying, “The question is not whether the proposal will work, but whether we need to do it. This model has worked very well, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”