LAPD Seeks Hiring Freeze Exemption : Police: Chief Williams’ proposal would let him fill key management positions without council approval. Mayor expresses support for the plan.

In a step that should ease reorganization of the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Willie L. Williams has asked Mayor Tom Bradley to exempt the department from a citywide hiring freeze.

In the short term, police and city officials said, the chief’s proposal would enable him to fill key vacancies and choose his command staff without having to seek City Council permission for each appointment. It would also free Williams to concentrate on reorganizing the beleaguered department and fulfill the recommendations of the Christopher Commission.

“This is merely a stop-gap measure offered to address the existing fiscal crisis,” Williams wrote the mayor in a letter received Thursday. “I am in the process of analyzing long-term staffing needs and preparing a proposal for department reorganization.”

In a prepared statement issued Friday, Bradley expressed support for the idea: “Our responsibility as elected officials is to support our Police Department. We need to give serious consideration to a proposal that would give (Williams) the tools necessary to institute long-lasting change.”

Williams, who was not available for comment, also wrote the mayor that a critical shortage of police managers, detectives and supervisors is seriously hampering his ability to carry out his duties. Having a management team in place, he said, would enable him to carry out the “many unfulfilled recommendations of the Independent Commission.”

“While personnel in lower ranks are often capable of stepping up to positions of increased responsibility and providing caretaker-like services,” Williams wrote, “it is not realistic to expect them to exert the long-term direction, control, leadership and training this department needs to get us over the existing crisis of public confidence.”

Williams’ plan calls for the department to not exceed the 7,900 officers authorized in the current fiscal year and to try to maintain that number by hiring recruits and promoting from within. His proposal reiterates his “intention to put as many able-bodied officers on the street as possible,” and he said the department is analyzing positions held by sworn officers that could be filled by civilians.

Williams’ four-page proposal does not make clear how many vacancies would be immediately filled or where those vacancies are.

City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie said Friday that his analysts are reviewing the proposal and will be speaking to Williams’ staff about the details. Their recommendation is expected to be sent to the mayor by the middle of next week. The mayor will forward Williams’ proposal to the City Council.

Glenn Barr, an aide to Councilman Marvin Braude, chairman of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, said he expects that council members will be receptive to the proposal “given the chief’s newness and the fact that the council pretty clearly wants him to succeed.”

Last week, the City Council placed two measures on the November ballot aimed at raising enough money for 1,000 more police officers and improving the city’s emergency communications system. Together, the measures would cost the average homeowner about $99 a year.