PROPOSITION N : LAPD Union Opposes Tax to Add Police

In a surprise break with its past, the Los Angeles police union’s board of directors has voted to oppose Proposition N, the tax measure on Tuesday’s ballot to boost the police force by 1,000 officers.

Police Protective League President Bill Violante said his nine-member board voted unanimously last week to oppose the measure because it misleads taxpayers. The league represents nearly 7,700 officers with the rank of lieutenant or below.

“It’s a sham,” Violante said of the measure.

Proposition N--while calling for a tax increase to hire 1,000 officers--would add only 400 officers, Violante said.

The City Council and Mayor Tom Bradley have allowed the police force to dwindle about 600 officers below its 1991 peak of 8,500, the union chief said.

The measure is designed to cover up for the city’s lack of commitment to law enforcement, Violante said.

Until police services become a top financial priority, the city should not ask the public to pay higher taxes to add officers, he said. “We just can’t support another tax when the money can be obtained from the city’s existing budget,” Violante said.

But other labor organizations representing Los Angeles police back the measure, including the Los Angeles Police Command Officers Assn., the bargaining unit for those with the rank of captain and above, and the Latin American Law Enforcement Assn.

Police Chief Willie L. Williams also supports Proposition N. The measure is the “next step in making real reform and better police protection a reality,” according to a ballot argument signed by Williams and Charles A. Labrow, president of the command association.

Williams has said that beefing up the department is necessary to implement the labor-intensive, community-based policing reforms recommended by the Christopher Commission after the beating of Rodney G. King.

Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani called the union’s decision “senseless.”

“What the union leadership should be doing is supporting the rank and file in the streets and seeking more officers,” Fabiani said.

Fabiani said the union’s opposition to Proposition N is the latest chapter in its feud with Bradley that stems from the mayor’s support of measures--including Charter Amendment F--to reorganize the Police Department.

Charter Amendment F, which changes the way future police chiefs can be hired and fired, was approved by voters in the June election, despite heavy police union opposition.

The union’s decision “is their way of carrying out their grudge against the mayor,” Fabiani said.

Violante denied that the union is opposing Proposition N to avenge itself against Bradley and other supporters of Charter Amendment F.

The league’s stance starkly contrasts with its support in 1981 and 1985 of failed ballot measures calling for new taxes to hire more police.