LOS ANGELES : LAPD Asked to Explain Delay on New Academy

Responding to reports of problems with plans for a new police academy, a City Council member introduced a motion Wednesday demanding that the department explain the reasons for any delay, and a top mayoral aide met with Police Department officials.

“A delay in the renovation of the Westside facility is very disturbing,” Councilwoman Laura Chick, a member of the Public Safety Committee, said in a motion introduced Wednesday. She asked that department officials be ordered to give a full report at the next Public Safety Committee meeting.

During a meeting of the Police Commission Tuesday, Police Department officials disclosed that final move-in at the new police academy will not take place until June, 1997, at least one year later than originally anticipated. Police commissioners were outraged, accusing department staffers of misleading them and failing to update them about problems with the highly touted Westside facility.

William C. Violante, deputy mayor for public safety, met privately with Police Department leaders Wednesday afternoon and said that he came away satisfied that even with any delays, the project will not set back the mayor’s police buildup plan. It also will save the city more than $40 million and several years compared to any other site that had been in contention, Violante said.