Police Board Stunned to Hear of Project Delay : LAPD: Enrique Hernandez Jr. is named president of the commission and says he is dumbfounded at report that completion of new academy will be a year behind schedule.

Enrique Hernandez Jr., an admired business executive and son of a retired police officer, was elected Tuesday to head the Los Angeles Police Commission and immediately was confronted with an embarrassing setback in the Police Department’s plans for a new academy.

In a report on the status of that academy, police officials disclosed that the facility--once touted as “a big win for everyone”--needs significant seismic repairs that will delay completion of the project by at least a year.

Although the delay is not expected to add to the total cost of the project, it could hamper recruit training at a time when the department is rushing to add to its dwindling ranks. Mayor Richard Riordan, who was instrumental in securing the Westside facility once owned by Hewlett Packard, has pledged to increase Police Department ranks by nearly 3,000 officers in five years.

Based on promises by police officials that the $13-million property would save millions of dollars and would offer a quick solution to the search for a new academy site, the City Council voted in December to bid for the property and to drop a competing Sylmar site from consideration. Although police commissioners have been receiving updates on the project since then, Tuesday was the first time they were informed about the possibility that it would be substantially delayed.

“I’m somewhat dumbfounded,” Hernandez told high-ranking police officials responsible for overseeing the project. “It seems to me that this method of operating is absolutely unacceptable.”

His indignation was echoed by Gary Greenebaum, the departing commission president who just hours before had handed over the president’s gavel to his successor and who said he was “flabbergasted, to say the least” by the update.

“I feel more than uninformed,” he said. “I feel a bit deceived.”

Steve Hatfield of the Police Department’s Police Facilities Construction Group insisted that commissioners had not been deceived. He said seismic retrofitting of the building had been anticipated but that the extra time turned out to be needed because of special construction requirements. He added that some classes may begin at the new facility in September, and others can start in January.

Even then, however, the building will not be complete. In fact, the city will not be permitted to prepare food in its newly acquired dining facilities because health permits still have not been obtained for the building.

Commissioners fumed as they heard those reports. Hernandez, who said he believes the council had been misled when it voted to acquire the property, directed the commission’s secretary to make an appointment for him to take up the matter with Police Chief Willie L. Williams.

Tuesday’s session was a rough opening day for Hernandez, the president of an Alhambra company that provides security and other services to government and business customers. He became the second police commission president to serve as head of the five-member civilian body since Mayor Richard Riordan took office in 1993 and replaced the entire commission with his own appointees.

Since his appointment a year ago, Hernandez has played an increasingly assertive role on the commission, although much of his work has gone on behind the scenes. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Hernandez is the board’s designated specialist on officer-involved shootings, a responsibility that gives him little public exposure but makes him the point man on sensitive issues of officer discipline and training.

He also has been outspoken in his concern about the welfare of officers, particularly the shoddy state of LAPD equipment and officer morale.

“My goals as I set out are trying to get some efficiency in the department and getting more officers on the street,” he said Tuesday in a brief interview after the commission meeting.

Hernandez’s determination to attack those and other issues has impressed members of Williams’ command staff, many of whom have developed a high regard for the commissioner during the past year.

“I think this organization, like most others, is successful if the services that are provided are good services,” Hernandez said in a recent interview. “And to have good services, there has to be a well-trained and enthusiastic police officer who is properly equipped.”

Hernandez takes over the presidency from Greenebaum, whose year as president began amid public uncertainty about the commission’s commitment to reform the Police Department. During his time at the helm of the commission, Greenebaum organized a series of updates on the status of reform, using them as a platform to urge the department to press ahead with recommendations of the Christopher Commission regarding the use of force by police officers and the need for the department to adopt a more community-oriented style of policing.

Greenebaum, who remains a member of the commission, also played a key role in the department’s efforts to tackle sexual harassment in the ranks. With Greenebaum’s support, Williams drafted a proposal to create a separate unit to investigate sexual harassment and discrimination complaints, though specifics of how that unit will operate still are being debated.

Over the past year, however, the commission also has struggled at times. Its efforts to install a computerized tracking system for officers ran into snag after snag, and its work to combat sexual harassment has been criticized by some as too little, too late.

“They’ve been very serious in moving to deal with the sexual harassment and discrimination issues that I’ve been involved with,” said Katherine Spillar, president of the Feminist Majority in Los Angeles and a leader of the Women’s Advisory Council to the Police Commission. “It’s not been far enough and not fast enough, but there’s been progress.”

Joe Hicks, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, said he too believes the commission has tackled reform issues, but he urged more aggressive attention to those concerns.

“They have often stated their commitment to the Christopher Commission reforms, and they have cited chapter and verse why they have not accomplished more,” he said. “I get the feeling they are pressing, but I think they need to turn up the wick considerably.”

Greenebaum himself agreed that many changes have taken longer than he expected. But he praised his fellow commissioners and said he believes the efforts launched by the board during the past year have set the department on the right course.

“I leave the position optimistic,” said Greenebaum, as he prepared to step down Tuesday. “I think we made some real strides toward reform . . . And I also leave it realistic about how long it takes to reform this department. What I thought could be done in a couple years probably can’t be done that quickly.”