LAPD Officers Plan to ‘Go by the Book’ to Try to Force Raise

Los Angeles police officers will soon resort to on-the-job behavior so excruciatingly “by the book” that it could help force a pay raise from City Hall officials pleading poverty, union leaders said Friday.

Starting early next month, officers will scrupulously examine their squad cars and equipment before going on patrol. Hundreds of off-duty police will crowd courtrooms, instead of remaining on call for their appearances. And half of the force will try to pack the police firing range in the first week of October.

Leaders of the Police Protective League pledged that the fanatical attention to minutiae will fray the nerves of management, but will not diminish service to the public.

But several city officials reacted with concern, saying that Angelenos are worried enough about public safety without the prospect of police veering from their usual routines.

“It’s going to be a real nuisance to the system. It’s going to cause some scheduling problems,” said union board member Danny Staggs. “But nothing more.”

However, City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said the “public should be outraged” by the officers’ planned actions.

Yaroslavsky said the city treasury is so strapped that officers cannot be given a raise without cutting services. “We will end up having to lay off police in order to pay for police pay increases,” he said. “That is the paradox and that is the dilemma in what they are demanding.”

The city is attempting to close a $33-million budget deficit this year and faces a shortfall of as much as $200 million next year, administrators say. Police officers, who have been without a contract for 14 months, have demanded a pay raise of at least 9% over four years, in line with the increase granted recently to water and power workers.

But management has said that money for the Department of Water and Power raise comes from an independent fund and that they cannot afford to give as much to other employees.

The police union’s actions are scheduled to begin a week from today with a caravan of officers picketing the homes or offices of city officials who have been the league’s sharpest critics.

The other actions are scheduled to begin Oct. 4. On that day, if a settlement has not been reached, the union will instruct officers to scrupulously follow all procedures.

Inspections of well-worn patrol cars may force some vehicles out of service and mean officers have to wait for new cars to go on patrols. Officers will fill out all forms to exacting Police Academy standards.

League officials suggested that officers might pay extra attention to seizing abandoned property such as sofas and refrigerators--a tactic that they said drove management to distraction in a 1980 contract showdown.

“All possible evidence should be located and booked,” a statement from the police union says. And officers should seek the advice of management on patrol calls and follow their directions exactly, the bulletin suggests.

As it stands now, beepers are worn by the more than 500 officers who are on call each day for court. That practice will continue for on-duty officers, but those who are off duty will report immediately to courtrooms around the county--racking up sizable overtime. The department will be obligated to pay officers for the extra time or give them compensatory time off, league officials said.

And time spent on the firing range--where officers are required to qualify every two weeks--is likely to increase. “Some of the guys might not pass the first time,” Staggs said, “if you know what I mean.”

The league will even pay for the extra bullets of officers who fail to qualify on the firing range in their first attempts.

Concern over public safety will be high as the job actions begin, particularly with verdicts nearing in the case of the two men accused of beating trucker Reginald O. Denny and others at the beginning of last year’s riots.

But police administrators said the union actions will not diminish service or endanger public safety.

“There has been no indication that public safety will be compromised in any way,” said Cmdr. David Gascon, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. “We think we are prepared for any eventuality.”

Gascon added that he saw nothing “illegal or unethical” in the union’s plans. “They are all professionals and they have made a commitment to public safety,” Gascon said. “Public safety is paramount.”

“The perception is already that this is an unsafe city,” Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said. “And then the police appear to be out of control; that’s the message this could send. This does not help one bit.”

Councilman Joel Wachs said the city management set itself up for the job action when it responded to a nine-day strike by DWP workers with a 9% raise.