Police Were Out in Force but Calm Prevailed

Police throughout Orange County stood at the ready Saturday as the verdicts were delivered in the Rodney G. King civil rights trial.

Officers were called in on their days off as some cities beefed up street patrols.

But in the end, Saturday turned out to be almost like any other.

“If I could describe it, it’s been a very typical Saturday in Santa Ana,” said Lt. Robert Helton, whose department set up a command post in the Civic Center and more than doubled the number of officers on the streets.

Santa Ana police said their command post would remain in place indefinitely. They said they will continue to gauge activities both in Santa Ana and in Los Angeles County and will not make any decision to call off the additional police units until they’ve determined that it would be safe to do so.

Orange County’s law enforcement officials had vowed to be ready and move quickly at the first sign of any trouble, either locally or in Los Angeles. Officials said they went over contingency plans in the past few months and had officers prepared for any civil unrest.

Garden Grove police, for example, “called in every available officer and canceled days off,” said Sgt. Paul McInerny, the watch commander. “But by noon we canceled it when after monitoring the activity in Los Angeles it didn’t look like they would need our help there. In our city and others in Orange County there was no activity. . .”

McInerny noted that the extra staffing “cost us a little. But we figured it was money well spent to be prepared.”

Costa Mesa police called in a dozen extra officers to help handle any problems stemming from the verdict. But by 2 p.m. the watch commander started sending some of the extra personnel home.

The county’s fire officials also had developed emergency plans. About 25 fire engines converged on a special staging area in western Orange County, where they waited for assignments.

The fire engines would stay in the staging area most of Saturday, said Orange County Fire Department Capt. Dan Young. Officials sent home some of the firefighters by midafternoon and would determine today if they would disband the group, Young said. Officials wanted to keep the exact location a secret because of security concerns, he said.

Saturday’s calm was in stark contrast to the mayhem last year after the King verdicts in the state trial. About 350 officers and 200 firefighters from Orange County were dispatched to Los Angeles beginning on the second and most deadly day of rioting.

There did not appear to be any indications late Saturday that Orange County police or firefighters would get called into Los Angeles, authorities said.

National Guard troops at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center and Marines at Camp Pendleton, who were on standby for possible deployment to Los Angeles County, had not been called up by late afternoon.

“Everything is status quo, which is just fine,” said Maj. Gen. Daniel Hernandez, commander of the National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division at Los Alamitos.

Times staff writers Eric Lichtblau, Leslie Berkman, David Reyes and Lily Dizon contributed to this story.