City Council Votes to Seek Federal Grant to Beef Up Police Force

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday voted 13 to 0 to seek a $48-million federal grant to help underwrite Mayor Richard Riordan’s plan to beef up the Los Angeles Police Department, although several lawmakers warned that the plan may put other city services at risk.

The grant application, which the Clinton Administration is expected to approve, will help pay for hiring 643 additional LAPD officers over three years. But the less obvious fiscal consequences of implementing the plan worried some council members.

The city’s share of the first-year cost of hiring the additional officers would be $6 million. It would grow to $30 million in the second year and $37 million the next, and in succeeding years to $50 million.

“I want to know how we’re going to pay for this in the future,” said Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. “Are we going to pay for it by closing parks and libraries? I find myself in a very difficult position on this.”

City operating officer Michael Keeley testified that it is reasonable to expect that the city’s future costs will be covered by tax receipt increases coming from normal economic growth.

Others reminded the council that it had earlier adopted Riordan’s Project Safety L.A., which sets a goal of hiring about 2,800 new officers in coming years. The federal money would make meeting that goal easier, these aides said.