U.S. Funds to Pay Police for Riots Overtime

A lift to the Los Angeles Police Department’s morale came Thursday with the announcement of the arrival of $16.7 million in federal funds that will be used to pay police officers for their extended labors during the Los Angeles riots.

Los Angeles also received an additional $4.7 million in federal funds that will be divided among the city’s Fire Department, Department of Water and Power and Department of General Services, city officials said.

Mayor Tom Bradley requested the funds from the Federal Emergency Management Administration to reimburse the city for its extraordinary expenditures during the civil disturbances that began April 29 after the verdicts were returned in the Rodney G. King beating case.

Now, thousands of officers who worked 12-hour shifts for two solid weeks will be given the option of receiving overtime compensation in cash or time off, said Wendell Nichols, commanding officer of the fiscal operations division of the Police Department.

Eligible officers should receive their checks during August, Nichols said.

“We will ask officers to submit a request to us as to how many hours of their overtime they want to be compensated in cash,” Nichols said.

“That’s good news and it will come in handy for a lot of officers who worked hard for an awful long time, “ said LAPD spokesman Cmdr. Bob Gil. “It’s something to lift their spirits.”

LAPD Sgt. Al Ruvalcaba, who worked 140 hours of overtime during the riots, was among those who intend to take cash.

“After getting . . . beaten (on the police reform ballot measure) it seemed like nobody loved us,” said Ruvalcaba, a spokesman for the 1,000-member organization of Latino officers called La Ley. “It’ll help heal not only the financial wounds, but the psychological wounds as well.

“Personally, it’ll mean about $2,500 take home,” Ruvalcaba said. “Visa, MasterCard and Discover are going to be real happy with me.”

Officer Sharyn Michelson said news that the federal check had hit the city mailbox was “sweet as can be. Get it over here!”

Many officers, however, “got burned out from all those 12-hour shifts and have said they would rather take time off,” Nichols said. “Ultimately, I think they will all get what they want.”

If it turns out that there is still not enough money in the Police Department account to handle all the requests for cash, “then we will pay at least 75% of the requests,” Nichols said. “A determination will be made between officers and management as to what percent can be compensated in cash.”

The LAPD originally filed claims for $20 million in overtime. The remainder of the overtime costs will be covered by additional FEMA and state funds expected to arrive later, Nichols said.