Panel Backs LAPD’s List of Proposed Law Changes

The Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved the department’s wish list of proposed changes in state and local laws, from outlawing bulletproof vests for ex-convicts to suspending the driver’s licenses of people who use their cars to solicit prostitutes.

The commission forwarded the proposals to the city’s chief legislative analyst, the City Council’s Intergovernmental Relations Committee and the mayor for further consideration.

Among the key proposals:

* Restricting ex-felons from possessing bulletproof vests or other body armor.

* Suspending the driving privilege of anyone convicted of soliciting a prostitute and committing a lewd act in a car “within 1,000 feet of a private residence.”

* Allowing law enforcement personnel to tap into local, state and federal “criminal offender record information” when defending the department against civil suits.

* Changing the commercial child pornography statute so the word “obscene” is not used as a requirement to define the offense.

* Amending gaming laws to make it a felony to use a computer service or the Internet to engage in illegal bookmaking.

* Prohibiting anyone except police officers from using blue lights on their bicycles.

* Allowing officers who retired before 1993 to carry full size badges instead of small-scale versions.

“A lot of these ideas were generated from the street when officers run into problems, need legal clarifications or suggest laws that keep up to the demands of today’s police work,” said a top City Council aide.

Most of the LAPD’s suggestions require changes in state laws, often a difficult and lengthy process, officials said.