Councilwoman Donates $8,000 fo L.A. Police

Adding to the more than $100,000 in donations from her office to police in the last two years, City Councilwoman Laura Chick introduced a motion Tuesday to allocate $8,000 of her community service funds to the Police Department’s West Valley Division.

Such grants are routine because council members have $20,000 each year available for donation, but it is rare to concentrate donations on law enforcement rather than give many smaller gifts to a variety of community groups.

Chick, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, has earmarked $6,000 of the proposed donation for refurbishing the two mobile trailers that augment the West Valley’s cramped station.

“Like many police stations through the city, the West Valley police facility is inadequate in its size for the needs of the department and the officers there,” Chick said. “While long-term solutions for the required department space are being reviewed, short-term solutions must be found to make the lack of space bearable for police officers and the public.”

Among those short-term solutions is building ramps for disabled access to the trailers.

The remainder of the donation will be split evenly between the West Valley’s Law Enforcement Explorer program and the community “eyes and ears” program called WATCH, according to Chick’s motion.

The $100,000 donated to the Police Department by Chick includes cash and in-kind donations such as permanent loans of staff cars, paint for graffiti abatement, ultraviolet fingerprinting equipment and video teleconferencing equipment.

The full council is scheduled to consider the motion Friday. It is expected to pass.