Community-Based Policing Begins in 5 LAPD Divisions : Law enforcement: Officers are told to form partnership with citizens to decide best ways to fight crime.

A new period in Los Angeles police history arrived as quietly as dawn, and at about the same time on Sunday, with Capt. David J. Gascon delivering a pep talk to 25 officers during the morning roll call at the Southeast Division station.

“We’re going to put a new shine on that badge, a new brilliance,” Gascon told the officers. “We’re going to spend more time cultivating relationships. We really want to form a partnership with the community we serve.”

Sunday was the first day of a pilot program in community-based policing, an experiment that calls for police to work cooperatively with residents to decide the best ways to fight crime.

In addressing his officers, Gascon took pains to explain that what they will be doing is not really anything new, just an extension of basic police work. A few officers went further, saying they consider it a new political label on the same work they have always done. The program was one of the principal recommendations made by the Christopher Commission in the wake of last year’s videotaped police beating of Rodney G. King.

“A lot of what we’re going to be doing is enhancement of things we’re doing already,” the captain said. And, in a reference to the department’s critics, he added: “Remember that the decent people, the law-abiding people, never lost faith in you.”

Indeed, little in the station or on the streets outside seemed different during the program’s first eight hours, as officers in one of the city’s busiest precincts responded to the routine Sunday morning mix of domestic disputes and drive-by shootings. Community activists at the Imperial Courts housing projects and elsewhere in the division have clashed with Southeast officers over how to police their neighborhoods.

“Community-based policing is a nice term, it’s a good concept, but I don’t think you’re going to see a major change in the way we do things,” said Sgt. Steve Turley as he cruised his patrol car through Watts. “We’re just going to open up and talk to people and help them take control of their community.”

Mostly, the officers went about their normal duties, with few instructions from their supervisors on how the program will be implemented. Five of the Police Department’s 18 divisions Sunday began participating in the program--Northeast, Harbor, Pacific, Hollenbeck and Southeast. The Foothill Division undertook a similar program last year.

Gascon said details had not been formulated in his division, in part because a community council--composed of civilians and police officers--had not yet been established.

“The reason we can’t tell you what is going to happen right now is that this is a partnership with the community,” he told the officers during roll call. “What we hear from the community will determine what we’re going to do.”

Gascon hopes more residents will get to know officers on a first-name basis. The community relations tasks that used to fall to senior lead officers--knowing people in the neighborhood, knowing whom to call in City Hall--will now be the job of all patrol officers, he said.

Most patrol officers on duty Sunday morning seemed to agree that the new program will simply mean changing the way they think about their jobs and the community.

“Community-based policing is mostly an attitude with us,” said Sgt. Lon Salzman, the dayside watch commander. “It comes down to how we’d like to be treated by the police in the community where we live.”

A few officers, however, seemed perplexed by the concept and feel they have been left to improvise. Some said community-based policing had been developed merely to appease politicians critical of the department.

“It’s always been in effect; now they’re just trying to make it an issue,” said Officer Robert Dinlocker. “All of us try to leave a good impression. People aren’t being pulled out of their houses and being abused. Being courteous and respectful was always part of the job.”

In its report, the Christopher Commission criticized the Police Department for having a “siege mentality,” especially toward minority communities.

Turley said he believes the program will give officers more time to work constructively with residents--getting graffiti removed, making sure street lights are repaired, and handling other quality-of-life issues related to crime.

“We’ll get the people that are concerned about their neighborhood to come to the station and make the calls to get these things fixed,” he said.

With his easygoing style, Turley seemed to personify what community-based policing was all about. Early in his shift, he took pains to order the removal of nearly a dozen stolen and abandoned vehicles; neighbors often complain that the ransacked vehicles are an eyesore.

He later responded to a drive-by shooting outside a Baptist church--a young man had been wounded in the leg--and engaged some parishioners in polite conversation.

On his next call, the burly sergeant single-handedly caught two armed robbery suspects; he calmly pointed his pistol at the young men and told them in an even voice to lie face down.

“It takes four, five, maybe six years to deal with people without being paranoid, that everyone is out to get you,” he said.

The 19-year veteran said one problem is too many young, inexperienced police officers. For him, community-based policing means returning to the basic principle beat cops have always relied on: know intimately every corner of your beat and all its people, good guys and bad guys. And that takes time.

“In a few years, we’ll have a more street-smart department,” he said. “The guys will know how to deal with people and we’ll get a lot more accomplished that way.”