Extending a Hand to the Police : Community group raises $400,000 for a new substation in the Wilshire division

The Wilshire division of the Los Angeles Police Department is the site of one of the most ambitious attempts in the city, perhaps the nation, to achieve a public-private partnership in community policing. The Koreatown-West Adams Public Safety Assn. has raised $400,000 to turn a boarded-up bank building into a police substation. The new goal is to raise $1.5 million more to pay for the substation’s upkeep when it opens. The scope of this project demands special attention by the LAPD.

The effort, initiated by Koreatown residents and businesses, is one response to Police Chief Willie L. Williams’ call three years ago for neighborhoods to donate money to supply the LAPD with buildings, furnishings and utilities to help the department maintain and improve services. Police substations in the Los Angeles area have existed since at least the 1980s when a storefront station was donated to the LAPD in Koreatown and a rent-free post was provided to the Glendale Police Department in the Glendale Galleria. In recent years, rising crime, unprecedented budget cuts and a general reluctance to pay higher taxes or authorize bond issues has put the onus on community efforts to shore up police protection.

Since each police division in Los Angeles has its own unique needs and problems, the LAPD leaves it up to individual stations to determine what community support might be helpful. The Wilshire station, from which West Adams and Koreatown are patrolled, is so overcrowded that officers work out of trailers. The proposed community-financed substation would house foot patrol officers, the division’s bicycle patrol unit, its Koreatown task force and senior lead officers, who supervise neighborhood policing efforts.

The flexibility given to stations in addressing a community’s specific needs is beneficial, but the lack of guidelines on the financing of donated facilities could be problematic, especially when conflict-of-interest issues arise. For example, the Koreatown-West Adams Public Safety Assn., a private, nonprofit group, administered the funds to be used for the substation. Among the many donors are two individuals who have been cited for violations of the law. One has been cited for 16 violations of police permit requirements. This is a sticky donor issue that Wilshire division Capt. John P. Mutz said the community group should tackle.

The LAPD will present a report on the establishment and operations of substations to the Police Commission on Dec. 5. This offers the commission an opportunity to consider funding guidelines. Until taxpayers provide more funds to the police, a community goal as grand as that in the Wilshire division deserves every chance for success.