LOS ANGELES : Police Heartened by Donations From Public

Los Angeles police officers here may feel unappreciated, with the turmoil since the Rodney G. King beating and the fact that officers have not had a raise in two years.

But somebody out there likes them--such as the Japanese company that donated $20,000 to the department, or the folks who gave police $250 for a fax machine, or the bank that pitched in 13 computers.

In fact, the Los Angeles Police Department has become something of a charitable cause recently. Donations in the past five months have surpassed the total for all of 1993. The goods have included everything from a fancy light for photographing fingerprints at crime scenes to a 1972 motor home.

While not exactly a tidal wave of giving, the support has heartened the officers, who say people are finally starting to sympathize with their men and women in blue. “I think it’s kind of an outpouring of support predicated on the fact that we have just been through some tumultuous experiences,” said Al Beuerlein, who heads the LAPD’s financial support bureau.

Police in the west San Fernando Valley have been especially fortunate in the last year, receiving bicycles, cars and high-tech cameras. Great Western Bank donated 13 personal computers used by officers to write crime reports more quickly and with greater detail.

For officers who are still driving cars with more than 100,000 miles and doing much of their work with pencil and paper, no gift is insignificant.

“You can donate what you would consider to be a dinosaur and it’s a Porsche to us,” said West Valley Detective Dave Navarro. “You should see the faces light up when we see a computer.”