A Thousand More Officers : A special property tax assessment vote is scheduled for November

Everyone knew that it would be only a matter of time before new Police Chief Willie L. Williams would come to the people of Los Angeles and ask for more taxpayer money for more cops. Perhaps what’s remarkable is how little time it took him.

That alacrity is one good measure of the magnitude of the problem: Los Angeles is an underpoliced city and the LAPD is stretched too thin.

That stretching could take on grotesque proportions under the new deployment philosophy known as community or neighborhood policing. Many more officers will need to be out on the beat, rather than assigned to duty in precinct or headquarters units.

The city’s current budget crunch could require the slashing of the LAPD’s 7,900-officer force. But not only must the level go no lower, it must go higher . Both Chicago and Detroit have about twice as many officers per capita; few cities have a thinner density of police officers than here.

A proposal offered Tuesday at City Hall would require a special property tax assessment to add 1,000 sworn officers and 200 civilian support personnel. A separate bond measure would improve the communications system.

The measures would cost the average homeowner in Los Angeles about $99 more a year, assuming they were passed by voters in November.

Under the dictates of Proposition 13, a property tax hike needs to be approved by a two-thirds vote. That won’t be easy to come by. Economic times are bad now and many voters are struggling to make ends meet, even as their taxes stand now. But Mayor Tom Bradley is right to put the issue to a vote. The public is in a police-reform mood--witness the thunderous passage of Charter Amendment F in June. Los Angeles has a new police chief. And the city coffers are strained to the limit; that’s why a property tax special assessment is needed. There isn’t a spare $100 million to be found these days.

The deep California recession has dried up general tax revenues, and Sacramento can’t even balance the state’s budget. No help will come from up north. Los Angeles has to do this on its own. Putting a thousand more cops on the job is a worthy crusade.