Council Weighs Tests at LAPD Station for Toxic Chemicals

After listening to concerns about hazardous chemicals seeping through the floor of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeast Division, Councilman Mike Feuer introduced a motion Tuesday to fully analyze the contaminants, assess any danger to employees and determine if the city made any errors when it purchased the property 15 years ago.

While the council considers the motion, officers the station are anxious for information. Since they began asking questions, the employees have had to wait for test results and funding approval for further study at the same time they were evaluating the rumors of illnesses and disease.

“There’s speculation and a lot of concern,” said Lt. Raul Vega, the station’s detective division commander. “We just need to determine right away that it’s safe to work here.”

According to a Nov. 21 report prepared by the city’s assistant medical director for the personnel department, tests have confirmed the presence of chemicals--some of which are known carcinogens--most likely left over from the film processing center that occupied the building before the city bought it in 1981.

“While having toxic chemicals on a floor is certainly of concern, these chemicals must be inhaled or ingested to have health affects,” wrote Dr. Robert Goldberg, the personnel department’s assistant medical director. “Air testing has not shown any health hazards to employees.”

But the report also states that more analysis needs to be conducted, including further testing of other areas of the building, soil sampling and a full assessment of potential health risks.

“If anything was done to clean up this site, those efforts were inadequate--and I don’t even know that something was done,” Feuer said. “We have a lot of questions that need answers.”