HAWAIIAN GARDENS : Council Weighs Plan for Police Department

Officials are examining a plan to create a 20-member police force for the city, which currently contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for police services.

City Council members said they are looking into options--possibly federal money from the new crime law--to pay for a police force, which would cost an estimated $900,000 to establish and $2.1 million a year to operate.

“It would be great for our city, but we have to find the money to pay for it,” Councilman Domenic Ruggeri said.

According to estimates, a police force would cost the city about $500,000 a year more than it pays for sheriff’s patrols, but some expense--about $225,000--could be offset by parking fines and traffic citations. Currently, the city pays about $1.5 million a year for the sheriff’s contract.

Hawaiian Gardens shares law enforcement services with five other Southeast cities: Lakewood, Bellflower, Paramount, Artesia and Cerritos. The 300-deputy force operates out of the Lakewood station and does not have an office in Hawaiian Gardens.

The proposal does not stem from any specific problems with sheriff’s services, but a desire to shift toward more community policing, said Walter McKinney, Hawaiian Gardens’ director of community safety. McKinney recently prepared a report at the council’s request.

The deputies’ policing style is primarily reactive and call-driven, said McKinney, who was recently hired to serve as a liaison between the city and the Sheriff’s Department and advise the City Council on police issues. A city police force, he said, would be more proactive and prevent more crimes.

Sheriff’s Capt. Frank Vadurro disagreed. He noted that four deputies are assigned exclusively to deal with Hawaiian Gardens’ community concerns, such as gangs and graffiti, in addition to regular patrols that cover the area.

“The reality is that we have worked closely with the community there, putting resources in before problems become big problems,” said Vadurro, who oversees the Lakewood station.

The Hawaiian Gardens police plan would give the city 20 sworn officers, a police chief, a lieutenant, four sergeants, six dispatchers and a small civilian administrative staff. The most likely place for a police station is a vacant, 3,200-square-foot store on Carson Street that is owned by the city’s Redevelopment Agency.