Study Points to Inefficiencies at LAPD

A group of consultants told members of the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday that changing cumbersome police practices could save the Los Angeles Police Department more than $80 million in one year and free scores of officers for patrol duties.

The consultants’ findings were contained in a sweeping study on support services at the LAPD. On Tuesday, police commissioners formally received the $300,000 study, prepared by two Southern California consulting companies, Blue Marble Partners and Decision Management Associates.

Automating systems such as the LAPD payroll, streamlining procedures such as those for changing work shifts and replacing some police officers with civilians are among the study’s many recommendations. In some cases, the LAPD duplicates efforts in ways that make simple procedures costly and repetitive, the consultants added. For instance, six different employees of the department compile homicide statistics, a redundancy that the consultants said costs the LAPD an estimated $300,000 a year.

Police commissioners did not take action on the report Tuesday, but agreed to appoint a subcommittee of the board to examine it and make recommendations. The commission representative to the subcommittee was not selected because the five-member board was short-handed: One commissioner recently resigned and another was on vacation.