No Pay for Police Reserves : Riot duty: Flores says the city failed to apply for federal aid that could have gone to the volunteer officers or been used for other needs.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores has written Police Chief Willie L. Williams demanding to know why hundreds of reserve officers will not not be paid for their help during the riots, despite the availability of federal aid.

In a letter to the chief dated Aug. 13, Flores acknowledges that the city administrative code may preclude payment to the Police Department’s 825 reserve, or volunteer, officers. But, she suggests, the police force could use the federal emergency funds in other ways, such as “increased training for reserve officers, increased stipends for reserve officers, or to purchase equipment for the officers.”

Flores, a congressional candidate who is attending the Republican National Convention in Houston, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Her spokeswoman, Niki Tennant, said Flores was chiefly concerned about the department’s failure to even apply for the funding for the reserves. The city is using federal aid to cover about $3 million in overtime accrued during the riots by full-time police officers and sheriff’s deputies.

“Anytime the City Council is discussing ways to fund more police and help fund the department, we think that it’s really an issue if there have not been avenues that have been followed to get those revenues,” Tennant said.

She said an estimated $300,000 would be owed to reserve officers who clocked 14,000 hours during the spring riots. Although Flores’ letter says about 300 reserve officers put in that time, police officials said virtually all 825 reserves helped in some capacity.

Lt. Leslie (Luther) Lutz, who oversees the reserve unit, said that soon after the riot he looked into paying the volunteer officers. But he said he was advised that the city administrative code precludes giving volunteer officers anything but a $15-a-month stipend to maintain their uniforms and equipment.

Lutz said he also consulted with Los Angeles County officials because the Sheriff’s Department plans to compensate its reserves for riot duty and has applied for federal funding to cover the cost. But he said he learned that, unlike the city, the county has legal provisions for paying reserve deputies for special events.

Lutz said he is working on a proposal to amend the city code so that LAPD reserve officers also can be paid for emergencies. He added that to his knowledge only a few reserves are upset that they have not been paid.

“Most of the reserves have voiced the opinion that, ‘Hey, that’s what reserves is all about--pitching in and helping and when we went into it, we didn’t expect to get paid.’ ”

One reserve officer, Encino accountant Steve Getzoff, agreed, saying, “I haven’t heard anybody complain. . . . All the reserves I’ve ever spoken to, they’re not in it for the money.”

A police spokesman, Lt. John Dunkin, said Williams referred Flores’ letter to the department’s Office of Administrative Services to further research the possibility of obtaining more federal funds to pay reserves.

“It’s a situation that to my knowledge hasn’t arisen before,” Dunkin said. “Clearly it’s something that deserves consideration.”

Police Commission President Jesse A. Brewer said he is concerned about the matter and will make his own inquiry. “If we were eligible for additional money from the federal government and we didn’t apply for it, we really made a huge mistake here,” he said.

Full-time LAPD officers have received 72% of their riot overtime pay so far and are awaiting the balance, Dunkin said.