Police to Go on Tactical Alert for Verdicts : Security: Precautions to be taken even though officials say they don’t expect rioting.

Los Angeles police and county sheriff’s deputies are preparing to go on tactical alert when verdicts are reached in the Reginald O. Denny beating trial, but officials predicted Thursday that there will be no replay of the rioting that shook the city in 1992.

The departments are activating essentially the same mobilization plan that was employed earlier this year when verdicts were announced in the Rodney G. King civil rights trial. The plan calls for putting more officers on the streets and for deploying forces in strategic locations.

Law enforcement officials add, however, that there probably will be fewer officers involved this time because of a sense that tensions over the Denny case have been reduced over time.

“It is our belief that the overwhelming majority of the people in the community don’t want to see a repeat of (the riots),” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block.

“There will be perhaps not as full a mobilization as . . . for past trials, but certainly we want to be prepared for any eventuality.”

State and local agencies have taken a similar low-key approach in preparing for the Denny verdicts.

The National Guard, which posted 600 guardsmen at armories around the area in April, has no plans to mobilize troops this time around, although officials say they are prepared to respond in case of trouble.

There also are no plans by county or local officials to restart the various rumor-control centers that sprouted during the King jury deliberations.

“The mood of the city is much different today. People just want to see this finished and get on with life,” said Tom Kruesopon, an aide to Mayor Richard Riordan.

Top city bureaucrats have been in Lake Arrowhead this week for an emergency management workshop they say is not related to the imminent conclusion of the Denny case. Officials at the previously planned conference are discussing ways to improve the city’s emergency response plans, which were criticized by the Webster Commission after the 1992 riots. Participants included City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie, top LAPD officials and Deputy Mayor Bill Violante.

In Long Beach, the city has no plans to staff the emergency operations center as it did for the King verdicts.

“There’s really nothing brewing out there,” said Joan Caterino, a city spokeswoman. “We’re not planing to go over to the emergency center and wait for something to happen, but we’re ready to go if the need arises.”

The Sheriff’s Department has asked the judge in the Denny beating trial to wait three hours before announcing verdicts to give deputies time to mobilize.

Sheriff’s spokesman George Ducoulombier said that once word is received, the department will move to alert status: The county’s emergency operations center will be activated and deputies will be put on 12-hour shifts.

Los Angeles Police spokesman Rigo Romero said the department will move to a modified tactical alert when the word is received from the court, going to 12-hour shifts and possibly requiring specialized units, such as detectives, to report to assigned areas in uniform. Up to 6,500 of the department’s 7,600 sworn officers could be put on duty if necessary, Romero said.