Panel OKs Plan to Hire More Women for LAPD : Police: Councilman Yaroslavsky’s proposal gets a boost from testimony. As of July, only 13.3% of officers were female.

A Los Angeles City Council committee on Tuesday approved Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s comprehensive plan to achieve gender balance in the Los Angeles Police Department after hearing testimony that supported the proposal.

A letter from best-selling author and former Los Angeles Police Sgt. Joseph Wambaugh hailing women as “uniquely qualified for police work” set the tone for most of Tuesday’s testimony before the Human Resources and Labor Relations Committee.

“In the first place, females are generally more skilled verbally than males, and no cop can succeed without communications skills,” Wambaugh wrote in the letter read aloud by Katherine Spillar, national coordinator of the Feminist Majority organization.

“Secondly,” Wambaugh wrote, “females mature earlier than males, thus attaining the most important police qualification at an earlier age: common sense. . . .

“Women can bring a pacifying influence to the cop’s troubled world that it is impossible to exaggerate,” the letter added.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, who chairs the three-member committee and was the only member present for most of Tuesday’s testimony, concluded the 2 1/2-hour meeting with the announcement that she would ask the full council to adopt most of what Yaroslavsky has called for.

The plan stems from the Christopher Commission report--compiled in the aftermath of the Rodney G. King beating--which showed that women officers are less likely than male officers to use excessive force.

Yaroslavsky said that as of July, 1991, only 13.3% of the LAPD’s officers were women, while the latest available census figures show that 43.4% of the Los Angeles area work force is female.

The councilman offered five motions, introduced in September, that would increase the number of female officers to work-force parity, achieve gender balance on the Board of Police Commissioners, require aggressive recruitment of female candidates for police chief, ensure that women’s issues are included in job interviews and mandate additional steps by the Police Commission to eliminate sexual harassment and discrimination in the department.

The only motion that was softened was one calling for hiring enough females to achieve parity with the work force as a whole.

Yaroslavsky, in his motion, took note of a 1980 court requirement that the Police Department hire women for 25% of its officer positions until 20% of the force is female.

“The 25% goal is too low,” he said, urging that the council “immediately raise the annual goal to 30% . . . and move toward a goal of 43.4%.”

After consulting with the city attorney’s office about possible legal ramifications of mandating anything above the 25% stipulated in the court decree, Picus--who acted alone in the absence of the other committee members, Hal Bernson and Rita Walters--said she was opting for a more cautious approach, making any higher figure “a goal, rather than a requirement.”

Among those testifying before the committee on Tuesday was Jenifer McKenna, managing director of the California Women’s Law Center, who said the “main obstacle” to women pursuing careers in law enforcement is “male attitudes.”

“There is no explanation for the underrepresentation of women in the Police Department other than sex discrimination,” McKenna said.

LAPD officer Kelly Shea, an 11-year veteran of the department who supported Yaroslavsky’s proposals, said that in her assignment as a community relations officer, “I have an open ear to the community, and they want this change.”

During a brief appearance before the committee, Yaroslavsky said statistical information suggests women “are not getting a fair shake” when it comes to recruitment, hiring and promotion in the Police Department.