Station for Sheriff’s Deputies Provided by Universal Studios : Law enforcement: The unique arrangement with L.A. County cuts travel time from officers’ West Hollywood base.

Universal Studios has a new attraction--a sheriff’s station.

In the first arrangement of its kind for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the private owner of the film studio and entertainment complex has set up two trailers for use by deputies who help patrol the sprawling facility.

Two deputies are permanently assigned to Universal Studios, which lies in unincorporated Los Angeles County, and are joined by as many as six off-duty deputies, paid for by the attraction’s corporate owner, MCA, under a contract with the county.

MCA officials said a permanent sheriff’s headquarters in the City Walk complex of shops and restaurants is expected to open late next year.

“We felt that for the safety of our guests . . . it would be important to have (law officer) representation closer to the lot,” said Christine Hanson, a spokeswoman for MCA, which installed the trailer offices in August so deputies no longer had to commute from the West Hollywood sheriff’s station, eight miles away.

Other tourist attractions, such as Disneyland, studiously avoid an outside police presence. But the 420-acre Universal Studios has been plagued by a series of high-profile crimes: the 1988 slayings of two unarmed security guards by a deranged fan looking for actor Michael Landon; last year’s $25-million fire--which authorities say was set by one of the facility’s own security guards--that destroyed part of its famed back lot; and a shootout among gang members this past July during the opening night showing of “Boyz N the Hood” at the 18-screen Universal Cineplex Odeon complex.

The month after the shooting, MCA officials installed the two attached trailers, with a sign announcing the sheriff’s “Universal City Substation” next to the theaters’ high-rise parking structures. There are locker rooms for deputies, briefing and communications areas and space for MCA’s corporate security officers.

Dan Slusser, general manager of Universal Studios, said that for the last decade, deputies have been invited to use MCA security offices elsewhere on the facility. Two years ago, he said, management began supplementing the patrols by hiring off-duty deputies.

The substation is “just in a different area, closer to the area they’re patroling,” Slusser said. “The intent is not to have these guys go back and forth to West Hollywood.”

Sheriff’s officials said MCA pays $47 an hour for each off-duty deputy, the same rate charged other private groups. “It’s the same thing film companies would pay to use them during the production of a movie . . . or a school for (extra coverage during) a football game,” said Capt. Clarence Chapman.

Under state law, deputies under contract to private concerns act as full-fledged peace officers, not private guards. Their orders come from sheriff’s officials, not the contracting group.

While the Los Angeles Police Department maintains storefront offices in shopping malls, the establishment of a such an office on the grounds of a private business is the first for the Sheriff’s Department, officials said.

MCA paid for the trailers, spokesman Hanson said, but “it is still being negotiated” who will pay what share of costs for the permanent facility.

The Universal City complex includes the tour attraction, extensive movie production facilities, two hotels, three restaurants, the movie theaters and a 6,250-seat amphitheater.

As the facility has grown, “we continually went to the Sheriff’s Department to ask them to assign more deputies,” Slusser said, explaining, “We think we’re entitled to it.”

But when county officials said there was no money for more regular patrols, MCA contracted to use off-duty officers. “It’s extremely expensive,” the general manager said, “but this is a method of dealing with today’s problems.”

The number of extra deputies varies according to activity at the complex, he said, “some days, an additional two (but) as high as six additional. . . . They get them to volunteer and pay them time and a half.”

Deputy Ronene Anda, the “team leader” at the studio substation, said the new facility has meant “better response time, much better communications. . . . It gives us more time here on a daily basis.”

Deputies spend most of their time on foot patrols, Anda said, noting, “High visibility is the main thing.”

Lt. Lee Jordan, watch commander at the sheriff’s West Hollywood station, said the deputies function as typical beat cops, responding to “people reporting burglaries or thefts.”

As at Disneyland and other major tourist draws, Jordan said, low-profile private security guards still handle the main patrol duties within the fantasy-like studio tour that includes exhibits that simulate scenes from films such as “King Kong,” “Earthquake” and “ET.”

“We pretty much stay out of the attractions,” he said, “until we’re called in.”