LAPD Officers Defend Roll Calls as Necessary Rite of Police Work : Study: Report that says sessions are inefficient is greeted with dismay by those who praise them as a way to deal with stress and build morale.

Actually, it is kind of like “Hill Street Blues.”

Daily roll call at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Hollenbeck Division in East Los Angeles is a mix of ribald humor and serious moments that officers say helps prepare them for the tensions of their shift.

That is why patrol officers expressed dismay Thursday at a report from city efficiency experts that called roll calls a waste of time.

“It’s a time for supervisors to make assignments, make adjustments and give out any pertinent information and training,” Capt. Bruce Hagerty said. “This is extremely valuable time.”

Hagerty said he does see a comparison between Hollenbeck’s roll call and the often-poignant, jovial gathering immortalized in the opening scene of television’s “Hill Street Blues.”

“That show was pretty accurate,” Hagerty said. “It’s somewhat lighthearted because we want our officers to go out there feeling good about their jobs.

“If we send them out in the community feeling all tense and frustrated, who do you think is going to bear the brunt of that?”

Beneath fluorescent lights in a pale blue room decorated with wanted posters and official documents, Officer Hector Ibarra, a 13-year veteran of the force, waited for roll call to begin and reflected on what the absence of the session would mean for officers’ morale.

“I look at it as an opportunity to relieve stress before you get out there,” Ibarra said. “It can change your whole perspective on your day.”

As watch commander Lt. Greg Hall gives out information on an upcoming police event, officers tease his assistant, Explorer Miguel Garcia.

“How much is it, Scooby Doo?” an officer asks the shy Garcia, a teen-age volunteer at the station.

“You talking to me?” Hall inquires.

“No sir, I was asking Scooby Doo,” the officer says sheepishly as his buddies guffaw.

Much of the 45-minute roll call is consumed with training. As Officer Oscar Casini updates the officers on the procedure for searching buildings, he picks three female officers to demonstrate a technique. Officer Tami Williams unwittingly provides a break in the tension when she rushes into the room and unknowingly veers through an area Casini has set up as an imaginary wall.

“Aw, she stepped through the wall,” an officer says as the room fills with laughter. “She’s Officer Casper.”

For officers such as Natalie Ostry, who has been on the force for less than two years, roll call provides an opportunity to receive additional training and advice from the older officers.

“You get a lot at the academy, but some of these officers have been on the force for five, 10, 15 years or more,” she said.

Officers said killing roll calls would be an inconvenience because it is the only time that a shift of officers is together for such training and camaraderie.

“We’re a business that operates 24 hours a day, and people call on us and we have to be there,” said Capt. Thomas Moselle. “You can’t just stop and bring everyone in for training at one time.”

One officer said that roll call also could be the last time you see a comrade.

“You never know what is going to happen out there,” he said.

The magic phrase uttered at the end of roll call on “Hill Street Blues” isn’t spoken as officers scramble from the room to gather their gear and be assigned cars, but it is understood:

“Let’s be careful out there.”