Williams Orders 600 Extra LAPD Officers on Streets

As the federal jury began its deliberations in the Rodney G. King civil rights trial, Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams ordered a heightened state of readiness to bolster police presence on the streets beginning today.

Other law enforcement agencies also began to prepare for any disturbances that might result after the jury returns its verdicts.

Los Angeles police began canceling days off and redeploying staff to put about 600 additional officers on duty in the 24-hour period that began at midnight Saturday, said Lt. John Dunkin. The deployment, staggered over three eight-hour shifts, will put about one-third more officers on the streets citywide.

“This is a heightened state of preparedness and deployment of additional officers,” Dunkin said.

The action stops short of placing the department on a citywide tactical alert, in which officers put less emphasis on nonessential calls. Such an alert will be called once the jury is ready to announce its decision, Dunkin said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department ordered deputies onto 12-hour shifts as a precaution at the sprawling 9,801-inmate Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho near Castaic, where disturbances erupted after last year’s verdicts.

Sgt. Ron Spear said the Sheriff’s Department wants “enough personnel on hand to handle anything that might occur” at the facility, which houses almost half of the county’s jail population.

In calling for the enhanced preparedness, Williams put into motion the second phase of the LAPD’s new emergency blueprint--designed to avoid a repeat of the department’s slow and chaotic response to last year’s riots. In its third and final stage, the plan will enable LAPD commanders to mobilize the largest show of police force in the city’s history.

The first phase consisted of planning, special riot training and other preparations, Dunkin said.

Although today’s heightened deployment boosts staffing by one-third, that translates into about 200 more officers for each eight-hour shift--still not a massive presence. Of the nation’s six largest cities, Los Angeles has the lowest ratio of police officers to residents.

“I think some people have an expectation that a great mass of officers will come rolling out of the stations,” Dunkin said. “It’s not going to be that way.”

At the 77th Street station, for example, which covers much of South-Central Los Angeles, Lt. Joseph Ramm said an additional seven officers were called to duty for the overnight shift, boosting staffing to 23 officers.

At the Rampart station, which serves the area west of downtown, Lt. John Fletcher said the department was putting an unspecified number of additional officers on duty.

Meanwhile, the California National Guard plans to have 600 troops in area armories by Monday morning.

Full mobilization of the Sheriff’s Department on half-day shifts could come when the jury nears a decision, Deputy Irma Becerra said.

In Long Beach, police plan to go to 12-hour shifts Monday, Lt. Don First said. Compton police will cancel holidays and days off to have more officers available, Lt. Al Smith said. And Pasadena police will also go to 12-hour shifts when verdicts are at hand.