Private Donor to Fund Junior Police Academy

A private firm has agreed to bankroll the first 18 months of a proposed Junior Police Academy for Los Angeles high school students interested in a career in law enforcement, officials said Monday.

The academy, an idea championed by former Los Angeles school board President Roberta Weintraub, Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilwoman Laura Chick, was proposed as a way to improve the quality and diversity of recruits entering the Police Academy.

The firm making the contribution asked to remain anonymous, pending a formal announcement sometime in the next month.

But City Hall sources said the donation is being made by 20th Century Insurance Co. of Woodland Hills. Ric Hill, a spokesman for the insurance firm, said he “couldn’t confirm or deny” the reports, saying “it would be premature.”

According to city estimates, the firm’s contribution would amount to $284,000, which would pay for supplies and salaries for an executive director, a program analyst, a grant writer and a clerk for the first 18 months.

Weintraub, who has led the effort to establish the program, said neither the city nor the school district had the money to start it.

“All the agencies involved are in no position to start up a new program because of funding shortages, so the contribution from this generous source is a blessing, to say the least,” she said.

While not identifying the company in question, Riordan’s staff said the mayor personally called the firm’s chief executive officer, persuading him to make the contribution.

20th Century has been a strong Riordan supporter in the past with employees contributing more than $14,000 to the mayor’s campaign war chest in 1992 and 1993, according to campaign records.

Joe Gunn, a former police commander who advises the mayor on law enforcement matters, said the private donation will help the program operate while the academy directors seek state and federal money to continue it.

“It’s our hope that after 18 months we can find all the funds to keep this program going,” he said.

Weintraub agreed, saying the program may get future funding from the federal crime bill, a state worker-training program and other private sources.

“I’m already out there looking,” she said.

The academy would operate like any of the 124 magnet schools already run by the school district. But to save money, the academy would not be designated a full-fledged magnet, which would require busing students in from throughout the district.

Instead, the academy would initially be incorporated into the law and government magnets at Monroe High School in North Hills, Dorsey High School in the Crenshaw area and Wilson High School in El Sereno.

In addition to traditional high school courses, the curriculum would include courses on the judicial system, history, law enforcement practices, Spanish, computers, report writing, physical training and diversity training.

The school district would pay the salaries of teachers at the academy, who will mostly be recruited from current magnet programs. However, the district may also hire new teachers who have a background in law enforcement. The Police Department is also expected to provide volunteers to speak to the classes.

The program would begin in September with 90 students from the 11th and 12th grades--30 from each magnet. In the second year, the program would accept 150 students from the 10th, 11th and 12th grades.

The junior academy was proposed as a way to create a consistent source of motivated and ethnically diverse candidates for the Police Academy, thus reducing the city’s recruiting costs and ensuring that recruits come from the communities the department serves.

The idea comes as the city launches a massive police recruiting and hiring effort to put 3,000 new officers on the street. But for every recruit approved for the academy, the city’s Personnel Department must evaluate 16 other applicants. Once accepted in the academy, the city spends about $60,000 to train each cadet.

Already, the junior academy plan has won the support of Police Chief Willie L. Williams, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Williams has vowed to help develop a curriculum and provide guest speakers, tours and possibly internships and work-study jobs.

The academy is not the first of its kind. Weintraub and other school officials recently visited a Junior Police Academy in Sacramento that she said has been a tremendous success and has been lauded by local police.