Mr. Riordan Goes to Washington : Airport rebuff notwithstanding, big pitch for more cops is right on key

Mayor Richard Riordan is determined to put more cops on L.A.’s streets. He has now taken his campaign to Washington, where he lobbied President Clinton for a big share of the Administration’s proposed 50,000-member police corps. Here’s Clinton’s chance to deliver on some of the promises he has made to Los Angeles.

The truth is that Washington has delivered little since the riots. An urban aid bill was killed last year after it was decorated like a Christmas tree with extraneous pork-barrel features. Congress bears much of the responsibility for the lackluster federal response, but so does Clinton, now that he’s in office.

Riordan needs Washington’s help to pay for 3,000 new police officers because the strapped city budget can’t cover that cost. In his search for additional money, the mayor had eyed airport revenues, but Congress in a recent airport-protectionist vote appeared to close off that option for the foreseeable future.

By contrast, the police corps proposal, if passed, could help Los Angeles relatively soon. This very worthy idea has been kicking around Washington for years, but the Clinton Administration has given it new life. As currently written, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1993 would pay for 50,000 additional police officers.

If the police corps becomes law, every city will want as many new federally funded cops as it can get. Fair enough, but, as Mayor Riordan argues so persuasively, Los Angeles merits top priority based on severe need. The LAPD has one of the lowest ratios of cops to citizens of any big-city police force. As violent crime rises, only 7,600 officers are expected to provide public safety for more than 3 million people.

The federal role in fighting crime is rarely anything remotely as significant as the rhetoric would have it. Now it’s President Clinton’s turn to talk tough on crime. This time around, though, his proposal for more police is sound and helpful. Los Angeles surely should be a key battleground in his war against crime. As the President knows and the mayor keeps saying: As California goes, so goes the nation.