Study Calls for 40 New L.A. Police Stations

To effectively carry out its community-based policing program, the city of Los Angeles must build up to 40 new neighborhood stations throughout the city, shut down the Police Department’s dilapidated downtown headquarters as soon as possible and ask voters to approve $388 million in bonds to fund the first phase of a $1.37-billion renovation plan, according to a consultant’s report released Tuesday.

The study’s author also warned Police Commission members that if the city does not speed its methods for acquiring new buildings--to take advantage of depressed real estate prices--it could raise the cost of the program by up to $200 million.

Consultant Larry J. Kosmont said, “It now takes the city seven years to construct a new building and 18 months to lease one. There’s not a corporation in America that could survive that way.”

If the study’s recommendations are implemented, the Los Angeles Police Department’s 18 division stations will be augmented by 30 to 40 satellite stations. Unlike existing smaller drop-in stations located in shopping malls or storefronts, which typically support just a few officers during normal business hours, the satellite stations would house 45 to 75 patrol officers and would be open around the clock.

Kosmont said recent corporate mergers and downsizings have created many opportunities for the LAPD to acquire buildings at low prices. Closed bank branches, he said, area ideal for community police stations. “They’re high-visibility, easily accessible and usually have parking.”

The plan calls for replacement of the department’s Hollenbeck, Rampart and West Valley stations and construction of two new stations, bringing the LAPD to a total of 20 area stations.

The first bond measure recommended by the study--one of $388 million--would cost each Los Angeles household about $26 a year. The annual cost of leases for the so-called Community Satellite Patrol Stations would be an additional $4.66 per household.

Future bond measures would bring the total cost to more than $1 billion, but would not be sought until the first phase is underway.

City Councilwoman Laura Chick, who praised the study’s findings, said November may be too soon to put a bond measure on the ballot.

Chick said it might be better to conduct further studies and seek a bond issue on the April 1997 ballot. “There needs to be more discussion of the cost, timing and funding. There have been too many past mistakes and the public trust must be restored,” she said.

Chick was referring to bond measures such as a $176-million police facilities bond issue passed in 1989 that never produced two new stations it had promised.

Last year, a $171-million police facilities bond measure failed to win the two-thirds majority vote needed for approval.

Beyond bond issues, the study suggests that the LAPD selectively solicit private contributions of land, furniture and buildings.

Police Chief Willie L. Williams praised the report, saying it “outlines a plan to bring the Los Angeles Police Department into the 21st century.”

To do so, the study calls for the demolition of the department’s fabled but dilapidated headquarters, named Parker Center for former Chief William Parker. The building is overcrowded and has not been properly maintained for decades, according to the report.

The study recommends that headquarters be moved to leased space while plans are made to construct or buy a building in the civic center area.