Grand Jury Urges Merger of Sheriff’s, LAPD Training : Report: Panel says millions of dollars could be saved if agencies shared academies. Panel also seeks to restore funds cut from its budget.

Millions in tax dollars could be saved by merging the training facilities of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the city Police Department, the county grand jury said Tuesday.

In its annual report to the county Board of Supervisors, the 1992-1993 grand jury, whose term expires June 30, said the move would eliminate duplication and make more efficient use of facilities.

The watchdog panel also recommended tightening management of welfare and workers’ compensation insurance programs to stop fraud, cleaning up a backlog of property tax billings and improving security at the county’s jails.

Appointed for a one-year term by the Board of Supervisors to study the efficiency and effectiveness of county government, the grand jury took a hard look at its own operations.

The panel recommended that its $398,000 annual budget be restored if it is to continue studying government efficiency. Since the 1988-1989 fiscal year, the grand jury’s budget has been cut 42%, to $232,000.

Using funds taken from the budget for its annual report, the grand jury bought computer equipment to track responses to its recommendations from the Board of Supervisors and various county departments. The software includes desktop publishing that will greatly reduce printing costs for future final reports, jury foreman John Grande wrote in this year’s annual report.

In the most sweeping of its recommendations, the jury proposed establishing a task force to examine the benefits of merging the sheriff’s and Los Angeles Police Department academies. The jury found that even though existing training facilities are not fully used, the city is preparing to spend up to $176 million to expand its academy and the Sheriff’s Department is developing a plan for a new training facility.

The report, prepared in part by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse, said a regional training facility would more efficiently accommodate fluctuations in training requirements by the LAPD, the Sheriff’s Department and other local law enforcement agencies.

Pooling resources would also help the two departments better afford highly technical training facilities, the report said.

Spokesmen for the LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department said they had not yet seen the grand jury’s report and could not comment on its recommendations.