A Technological Dawn for the LAPD : With Riordan alliance’s contributions for computers, Joe Friday will enter the ‘90s

As most of us were adjusting to life in the age of computer networking, fax modems and e-mail, the Los Angeles Police Department--charged with ensuring public safety in a city of 3.5 million people spread over 465 square miles--has been slogging along the old-fashioned way. Indeed, in the computer-saturated 1990s the LAPD is mired in a technologically deprived world that some have called Joe-Friday- in-the-1960s.

Paperwork is done mostly by hand. Files are transferred by interoffice messenger--often the police officers themselves. And information is exchanged mainly via telephone. All this because the department has lacked the resources over the years to purchase computers and set up a network linking its 18 stations, four traffic divisions, the training academies and Parker Center headquarters.

Now, in what is believed to be the biggest private donation ever to a U.S. law enforcement agency, Richard Riordan and his Mayor’s Alliance for a Safer Los Angeles have raised more than $15 million toward new equipment and software for the LAPD. As a result, the department’s antiquated record-keeping system is about to undergo a major upgrade. Faster than you can say Pentium.

The list of donors to the mayor’s alliance reads like a who’s who of Southern California’s corporate citizens. Some of the biggest gifts came from the Ahmanson Foundation, Blue Cross of California, Compaq Computer, Coca-Cola and Ralphs/Food 4 Less. Thanks to their generosity, the department is expected to save $134 million through improved efficiency.

There will always be those who argue that using private funds for law enforcement is the wrong way to go. But with funding scarce and the public increasingly reluctant to approve new taxes for public safety, the program of the mayor’s alliance should be strongly applauded.

The money for the new computer system could free up 640,000 officer-hours each year--the equivalent, boosters say, of having 368 more cops. In this sense, the change will bring Mayor Riordan somewhat closer to fulfilling a campaign promise to put 3,000 more police officers on the street during his term.

Improving departmental technology has traditionally been the lowest of police priorities. To the extent that computerization will improve the LAPD, it benefits all of Los Angeles, the most underpoliced city in the nation.