Riordan Steadfast on LAPD Expansion : Police: Mayor concedes it may be a tough goal in wake of chief’s comments that adding 3,000 officers in four years is impossible.

Despite grave doubts expressed by the chief of police, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan stuck by his vow to hire 3,000 officers in the next four years, although he acknowledged Wednesday that it is a tough goal that could take longer to reach than he promised.

During the campaign, Riordan said he would add 3,000 officers to the 7,600-officer force in his first term--and would not run again if he failed to meet that promise.

On Wednesday, a day after Chief Willie L. Williams bluntly dismissed the possibility of adding so many officers so quickly, Riordan refused to give up, while opening the possibility that the goal might be unreachable.

“My goal is for four years,” said Riordan, who appeared with Arnold Schwarzenegger in East Los Angeles to promote next month’s Inner-City Games. “If it’s not four years, it will be four years and a day, four years and two days, but we’re going to get them out there.”

When asked if he would not to seek reelection if he failed to add 3,000 officers, Riordan laughed and said: “Remind me of that four years from now.”

Williams, interviewed by KNBC television Wednesday, reiterated his concerns about adding 3,000 police officers in four years. Although Williams said he will try to put 3,000 more police on the street within that time, not all of those officers will be new hires.

The size of the patrol force will be bolstered by increasing overtime payments, hiring more civilian employees and hiring some new officers, Williams said. Although that plan would fulfill one part of Riordan’s campaign promise to boost the patrol strength of the LAPD, it would not satisfy his pledge to build a 10,500-officer force by the end of his term.

“I understand that the mayor has a pledge, and he’s obligated to try to ensure that all of those who work for the mayor follow through on that pledge,” Williams said. “I also have a responsibility to be a realist. I’m going to try to meet the mayor’s goal. That’s the job of the chief of police, but I’m sure the same as the mayor, that we don’t want to do anything that’s going to put an inappropriate or inadequately trained officer out on the street.”

In an interview Tuesday, Williams said the department can train only 600 to 650 new officers a year. At that rate, the LAPD could hire and train a maximum of 2,600 officers in four years. Meanwhile, about 300 officers leave the department each year through attrition.

Even if it were possible to add 3,000 officers, Riordan has yet to come up with a plan to finance such a massive expansion of the force. His proposal to tap into revenue at Los Angeles international Airport faces federal restrictions.

Former Mayor Tom Bradley, in his final day in office, said that adding 3,000 officers to the police force was the one campaign promise that his successor should abandon.

Riordan, who made an enhanced police force a central theme of his campaign, suggested that the Police Academy could be expanded or that officers could be trained at other facilities. He said the need for more officers on the streets is so essential that some plan must be devised.

“Bottom line is we have to do it,” Riordan said during an afternoon appearance on the George Putnam show “Talk Back” on radio station KIEV. “We don’t have a choice because unless L.A. is made safe, we’re not going to get tourists, businesses aren’t going to come back.

“We will have to reach outside our own Police Academy,” he said. “We’ll have to increase the number of students at the academy dramatically. We have to cut back the number of police retiring. We have to get people off the desks and out on the street. Bottom line is we have to work harder on a daily basis to add more police.”

Continuing his focus on the police force, Riordan will meet privately today with Williams and will address rank-and-file officers in the Van Nuys Division during morning roll call. Riordan said visits to the city’s 18 police divisions will become a regular part of his schedule in order to boost officers’ morale.

“I’ve got to show (officers) that I respect them on a day-in and day-out basis,” Riordan said. “That’s why I think Bill Violante was a great appointment.”

Violante, the former police union head who is now the deputy mayor for public safety, conceded Wednesday that the 10,500-officer goal is “very ambitious,” but said he believes it can be reached. Violante added that he and other leaders, including Williams, will explore every option for trying to meet that goal.

“We are looking at every means possible,” Violante said, citing possible expansion or operational changes at the Police Academy as just one possibility.

Riordan said he will make more appointments Friday.

Among those reported to be high on Riordan’s list for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board are Stan Sanders, an attorney who played a critical role in Riordan’s mayoral campaign, and Mel Wilson, a San Fernando Valley realty agent and chamber of commerce official.

Those mentioned as likely harbor commissioners are restaurant owner Frank Sanchez, who served as treasurer of Riordan’s campaign; San Pedro businessman Al Galletti and Shelly Suzuki, whose family runs a food concession at LAX.