THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : Officers to Go on Alert for Verdict : Safety: Emergency operations facilities will be put in operation once deliberations begin, officials say.

As the so-called Trial of the Century hurtles toward a halt, Los Angeles officials are adopting the Boy Scout motto.

Unwilling to be caught off guard as they were in 1992 when violence erupted after verdicts in the first Rodney G. King beating trial, public safety officials plan to activate the city and county Emergency Operations Centers as soon as the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial begins deliberating.

This will provide direct communication among all government departments that might help respond to street violence, and place police officers on modified tactical alert. For the Los Angeles Police Department, this means officers must check out before leaving at the end of their shift; for the Sheriff’s Department, it means about half the patrol cars are prepared to be redeployed in case of a crisis.

“There is no indication right now that anything is going to occur, but we would be remiss as a response entity if we were unprepared,” LAPD Assistant Chief Bayan Lewis said Thursday. “We will make some subtle changes that will be technically invisible to the general public, but they will be enough of a change so if something were to happen, we will be ready.”

The Emergency Operations Center in the basement of City Hall may be up and running as early as today and will remain active throughout jury deliberations, although it will go to minimum staffing levels when the sequestered jurors return to their hotel each night, officials said.

“This is a precautionary step, so that when they are ready to come back with a verdict we can very quickly gear up to a higher level of readiness,” said Bob Canfield, the city’s emergency preparedness coordinator. “We learned a tough lesson in the riots.”

Also starting today, police will close off a block of Temple Street between Broadway and Spring Street to all traffic in the hours before and after each court session, from about 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 7 p.m. until the lawyers leave the building. Only media will be allowed on the south side of the street near the steps of the Criminal Courts Building, ending a ritual of about 150 people gawking at the lawyers streaming in and out of the building each day during the months-long trial. Security around the courtroom will also be beefed up, to up to 12 officers.

“The reason for this is public safety,” said LAPD Central Division Capt. Richard Bonneau. “We are worried that as so many people gather around and filter out onto the street that it could cause a traffic accident.”

Police also said that arguments have broken out among trial-watchers over whether the former football star is guilty.

Meanwhile, school officials are also on special watch for problems arising out of the trial. Supt. Sid Thompson sent all principals in the Los Angeles Unified School District a letter this month warning them that the verdicts “have the potential of causing civil unrest.”

“I encourage you . . . to allow students . . . to discuss the courtroom procedure, to inquire about its significance, and to use it as an educational tool to be better informed about the justice system and the court process,” Thompson wrote. “Providing appropriate times and places for these on-campus dialogues . . . will go a long way toward lessening the anxieties of young people in our schools. “

The LAPD is taking the lead among city departments in preparing for the Simpson verdict. Police officials circulated a Simpson response plan in July, Lewis said, declining to reveal details of the plan for fear that publicity would thwart its effectiveness.

“This is clearly one good example of our moving to be a new LAPD,” said Laura Chick, who heads the City Council’s Public Safety Committee and was briefed Thursday on the LAPD plan. “This is never again to be a department caught unawares. It’s the new LAPD, who has learned from its past mistakes. I am very confident our citizens can relax.”

Mayor Richard Riordan leaves today for a two-week trip to Asia, but he will remain in contact with emergency personnel, spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez said.

Times staff writers Ealena Callendar, Lorenza Munoz and Beth Shuster contributed to this story.