LAPD Has Yet to Deploy Assault Rifles It Urgently Requested

Nearly a year after the Los Angeles Police Department clamored for assault rifles to even its officers’ odds against heavily armed criminals, the powerful weapons remain locked in a department storage vault.

LAPD officials, who requested the rifles after last year’s notorious North Hollywood shootout, said they are grappling with training issues as well as trying to figure out who should have the rifles in the field.

Furthermore, the department has reduced the number of officers who will be trained to handle the weapons because of a lack of funding. Instead of training 550 officers to use the rifles, police now plan to train about 200 over the next two years, officials said.

Meanwhile, about 400 M-16 rifles donated amid much fanfare last summer by Gov. Pete Wilson are being kept in storage at the Police Academy. An additional 200 donated rifles are being used to restock the arsenal of the department’s elite Metro Division, which has long had permission to use such weapons, police said.

The delay in training has frustrated some officers who complain that they are severely outgunned on the streets, as highlighted by the shootout in North Hollywood in February with two heavily armed bank robbers.

“This is not a minor issue, it’s a critical one,” said Dave Hepburn, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. “The department needs to get its act together. This is not good.”

One LAPD officer, who was wondering why the rifles have not been deployed, said: “We don’t feel like we’re Barney Fife out here, but we certainly don’t feel like we have the firepower of Robocop.”

Cmdr. Dave Kalish, the department’s spokesman, said officials are trying to move forward on the matter, but want to make sure they have all the right safeguards and training in place.

“Clearly, we understand the desire for rapid deployment of the rifles, however, we must move thoughtfully and responsibly before these powerful weapons are distributed,” Kalish said.

Lt. Paul Mock, a training officer at the academy, said the department wants “to put together a well-thought-out program, not just throw something together for expediency purposes. We want the best thing for the police officers and the community.”

One issue that LAPD officials are still struggling with is whether the firearms should be kept in the trunk of a supervisor’s patrol car, or carried in the cars of specially trained officers.

“There’s professional disagreement on the weapons,” said Capt. Dan Koenig, who has been reviewing the issue for the department’s policymakers. “Do you put them with the supervisors and let them physically control the use, or do you give them to the officers so they have more immediate access.”

Even if the rifles are kept in the officers’ cars, he said, they would first need to get a supervisor’s approval to use them.

“There are good arguments on both sides of the issue,” Koenig said.

The Los Angeles Police Commission approved the use of the high-powered rifles in March after the North Hollywood incident convinced commissioners that there was a need for them. At one point during the battle, overwhelmed police ran into a nearby gun store and borrowed high-powered rifles to defend themselves.

Under the department’s new policy on the “urban police rifles,” the firearms can only be used if police encounter a heavily armed suspect, a suspect with body armor or a suspect who is barricaded in an “advantageous position” over the police.

In addition to approving the use of the rifles, the Police Commission gave the department more powerful ammunition and let officers trade in their 9-millimeter handguns for .45-caliber firearms, which police experts say have more “stopping power.”

Since the commission’s actions, 1,200 officers have received training to use the .45-caliber handguns--fewer than the 4,500 officers the department anticipated. Mock said the number might be lower than expected because officers are required to pay for the weapons.

According to the LAPD, training on the donated M-16 rifles may begin as soon as next month. Training officers, however, said they are having problems finding training ranges that can accommodate the department’s needs.

Because the weapons are so powerful, the ranges must be long enough so officers can fire the rifles at distances up to 150 yards. The LAPD does not have ranges large enough and must contract with private ranges. Such a proposition is costly, police said.

“The training issues are not simple ones,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who is chairwoman of the city’s Public Safety Committee. “I’m not aghast at how long this is taking. . . . I’m willing to give them a little more time.”

Additionally, an aide to Chick said the donation may not have been formally accepted by the City Council, which is awaiting a report from city officials.

The LAPD managed to avoid a significant cost in July by securing a federal government donation of 600 Army surplus M-16 rifles. At the time of the donation--which was arranged with the assistance of Wilson’s office--Interim Chief Bayan Lewis said the rifles would be in the field within a few weeks.

A spokesman for Wilson said the governor “recognizes that the LAPD has special training needs, but he hopes [the department] resolves them as soon as possible” and deploys the weapons into the field.

“The governor never wants to see LAPD officers outgunned in a firefight again,” said Sean Walsh, a governor’s spokesman. “That’s why he made it a high priority. He wants the LAPD to have the weapons that would do the job.”

One state official involved in the procurement of the weapons said the LAPD and other Los Angeles-area agencies have a reputation of taking their time in deploying donated equipment.

The rifles are fully automatic, but will be modified to become semiautomatic, police said.