CLINTON’S O.C. VISIT : Police Organizations Tell the President They Appreciate His Backup : Law enforcement: They come away from private meeting praising Clinton’s commitment to putting more cops on the streets.

A dozen representatives of Southern California police organizations met privately with President Clinton Friday, praising him for increasing the number of officers patrolling the nation’s streets and asking how they can keep those additional cops on the job indefinitely.

The brief, informal meeting between the President and leaders of police associations and unions occurred privately. But later, the participants said they were encouraged by the President’s commitment to strengthening law enforcement.

The group, which met for about 15 minutes with Clinton, included the leaders of police associations in Anaheim, Huntington Beach and Long Beach.

Don Blankenship, president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Assn., said Clinton’s pledge last year to put 100,000 more officers on the streets had grabbed the interest of local police leaders. The follow-up on that promise--the passage of federal legislation that allowed the December hiring or rehiring of 480 law enforcement officers in California--won the gratitude of those same leaders.

“The discussion was at first a ‘thank you’ to the president for putting his money where his mouth was on the 1994 crime bill,” said Blankenship, who organized Friday’s meeting at the White House’s request. “And then it turned into a discussion of how to make sure we can hang on to these [added officers and resources].”

Republicans have mounted strong congressional opposition to the so-called COPS (Community-Oriented Policing Services) program, a package of bills in the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1994. They want to remove requirements on local government that the money be spent exclusively to pay the newly hired officers.

In Orange County, 49 officers were hired by 12 agencies with a total of about $3.6 million in federal grants. Some agencies that had hoped to enjoy the benefits of the bill--such as the Huntington Beach Police Department--could not put up the matching funds required for the grants, a situation officials attributed to the repercussions of the Orange County bankruptcy.

The police leaders from Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties who met with Clinton on Friday were eager to hear how they could fight to ensure the program’s money remains dedicated specifically to hiring officers. The President told them to step up lobbying efforts, participants said.

“We’ve hired 40 extra cops in Long Beach,” said Detective John W. Rose, president of the Long Beach Police Officers Assn. “It has made things safer for Long Beach and safer for my officers.”

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John Brimmage, president of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, said the President has also won over fans in the law enforcement community with his efforts to pass legislation banning assault weapons and more restrictive handgun laws.

“He’s on the right track, that’s for certain,” Brimmage said. “And anything that puts cops on the street is good. He’s following his conscience, and I think he’s trying to do the right thing.”

The police leaders also were eager to tell the President they were impressed with his political resolve, said Art Reddy, vice president of the International Union of Police Assns., a group that represents 80,000 sworn officers.

“We just told him we are really proud that he had the courage to stand up and support his original position with the crime bill, and we told him we knew how difficult that was,” said Reddy, a former sergeant and 33-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “And crime is down. That’s the net benefit of his efforts.”

As the veteran cops filed out of the Boys & Girls Club, they also said they were pleased Clinton had made an effort to reach out to them as representatives of front-line law enforcement.