Williams Finishes Plan to Bolster LAPD : Police: Chief’s proposal includes new hires and putting desk-bound officers onto the street.

Police Chief Willie L. Williams has completed a draft set of recommendations for boosting the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department, but his proposal falls “significantly short” of fulfilling Mayor Richard Riordan’s goal of achieving a 10,500-officer force within four years, sources said Thursday.

Instead, the proposal blends some new hires with administrative changes such as replacing uniformed officers with civilians and allocating more money for police overtime, sources told The Times. The result is a proposal that puts thousands of additional officers on the streets but draws many from within LAPD ranks.

“The increases are going to emphasize the number of visible officers,” said one person involved in the process. “That means moving officers who are in desk jobs and putting them on the street.”

Building a larger and more effective police force is the Riordan Administration’s top priority, and Williams’ plan for achieving that goal is a closely guarded secret. Only a few top officials have been consulted, and most declined to comment on the proposal in detail.

Williams and Riordan met late Thursday afternoon with Deputy Mayor William C. Violante and City Councilman Marvin Braude, who chairs the Public Safety Committee. Afterward, Violante said Williams has delivered a working draft of his plan to the mayor.

“The mayor asked me to develop a plan that has 3,000 additional officers on the street, increased in-uniform visibility,” Williams said as he emerged from the meeting. “And that’s what we are going to try to work and do.”

Riordan also declined to discuss the chief’s draft proposal. “I’m not going to comment on anything because the plan’s not complete,” the mayor said. “It’s going to be a working document whatever it is. It’s not going to be in concrete.”

The LAPD, which once had more than 8,000 officers, has been badly hurt by attrition in recent years. Today, the department has about 7,500 officers. Riordan has pledged to increase the department by 3,000 officers by the end of his four-year term.

During the final campaign debate, Riordan was asked what pledge he would stake his political career on. “The one thing I’ll promise is to take giant strides in making the city safe,” Riordan responded. “I promise that I will add 3,000 police officers over four years.” If he failed at that, Riordan said, “I guarantee you I won’t run again.”

One of Riordan’s first acts as mayor was to ask Williams to develop a plan for boosting LAPD ranks. The chief was given 60 days to complete it as Riordan officials wrestled with questions about how to pay for the additional officers.

Although Williams’ plan, as drafted, is not expected to produce a 10,500-officer department within four years, Riordan Administration officials could argue that it fulfills the spirit of the mayor’s campaign pledge if it puts 3,000 more officers on the streets.

That emphasis more clearly parallels Williams’ thinking, and the chief has stressed that he will not sanction any proposal that dilutes training to build a bigger department. The current proposal, Williams said Thursday, is “consistent with what the mayor has said. . . . The mayor said the same thing in the election, I’m told.”

According to officials familiar with the process, Williams proposes shifting about 600 officers from desk jobs to uniformed patrols, largely by increasing city funding for the overtime budget and by hiring a number of civilians to take over jobs being performed by uniformed officers.

Adding to the department’s ranks is a more difficult proposition, one hampered by a lack of money and by the physical constraints of trying to train officers at the Police Academy. An LAPD analysis of new hires found that the department could add a maximum of 300 officers per year for the next four years.

Combined with 600 additional officers on the street from internal moves, those recommendations could put 1,800 more police officers on patrol by the end of Riordan’s term. Still more officers could be put on patrol by increasing the use of police reserves, by improving equipment, by making use of additional training facilities, and by making other administrative and hiring policy changes, officials have said.

Top police officials also considered other proposals, including one to contract out all police services in the San Fernando Valley. A source said those suggestions are not included in the proposal.