L.A. Offered Record Grant for Policing

Vice President Al Gore formally announced Monday that Los Angeles is entitled to its largest federal policing grant ever--$133 million to hire up to 710 new officers over the next three years.

Several city officials, however, expressed concern that the city might have difficulty paying for all the equipment, support staff and facilities needed to add so many officers.

And since the grant, which pays 90% of the officers’ salaries, runs out in three years, city officials also worried that a large buildup could be fiscally irresponsible. After all, they say, the city already faces costs from a grant that expired this year.

“There’s really virtually nothing good that comes from starting something that you can’t maintain,” said Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, who said she hadn’t decided yet on the latest grant. “All you do is set people up for a fall.”

But at an afternoon news conference held on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport, where Gore’s plane touched down, city officials from the mayor and police chief to council members were gleeful about the new funding.

“This is a terrific day for Los Angeles and all of our law-abiding citizens,” Mayor Richard Riordan said. “The message to criminals is clear: It’s your turn to be afraid.”

Gore hailed the new funding as a “major breakthrough” that “will make the families of Los Angeles even safer.”

But some council members suggested that the city initially hire only 200 new officers with the money. City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie said his office is reviewing the grant at differing levels to determine the costs the city could incur at each.

Officials with Riordan’s administration agree that 200 new officers is a good starting point, but they want the city to make use of all the federal funds. The mayor indicated that he has been given assurances that the city might be able to get an extension, if the money is not all used within three years.

Other city and LAPD officials stressed Monday that the grant--in its entirety--is too good to pass up.

“It’s absolutely important that we take advantage of this funding source,” said Cmdr. Dave Kalish, spokesman for the LAPD.

“You’d be a fool not to take it,” said Councilman Joel Wachs, one of the panel’s most fiscally conservative members. “We’ve benefited in the past from these grants. To turn it down is to say you can’t run the city, you can’t set priorities.”

To that end, city officials said their concern is that a previous federal grant is running out, leaving the city to fund the remaining $25 million.

A top city official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, put it this way: “Either cuts or new money have to be identified. . . . In what fashion can you sustain the $25 million and what are our choices? Is it worth closing a library?”

Councilman Mike Feuer said he believes the incremental approach is the right one in light of the budget concerns.

If the LAPD hires 300 new officers, it would put the department over 10,000 for the first time in its history. Riordan pledged to achieve that staffing level when he ran for mayor in 1993, saying he would add 3,000 new officers in four years.

The mayor, who missed his own deadline, played a lead role in securing the federal grant. For months, Riordan has lobbied federal officials for additional grant money to boost the LAPD’s ranks. He even worked with congressional representatives from Los Angeles County to help persuade City Council members that they should snap up the grant money.

“I don’t see how anyone who has the best interests of the city of Los Angeles would not do what it takes to use up this grant,” said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills), who helped lobby for the money. “It would be a tragedy.”

Riordan also credited Reps. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) and Julian Dixon (D-Los Angeles) with helping secure the money.

The LAPD has been rebuilt on federal grants, but it has been only recently that city officials have raised concerns about accepting one-time grants while the city scrambles to cover such ongoing costs as salaries and benefits.

“It’s awkward the way the feds do this,” Comrie said.

According to city records, the federal government has contributed $193 million to Los Angeles for law enforcement-related programs since 1993. Most of those funds have been earmarked for hiring police officers.

The new grant is not only the largest ever offered Los Angeles, it is also the most generous in terms of matching requirements. No other grant required that the city make up only 10% of the difference.

Los Angeles’ grant, part of President Clinton’s initiative aimed at hiring 100,000 new officers by 2000, is part of a $144-million federal package to California law enforcement agencies that could add up to 792 police officers in the state.

Sacramento is slated to receive a $4.6-million grant to hire 30 officers; Huntington Beach is expected to receive $750,000 for about 10 officers, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is scheduled to receive $5.4 million for about 40 new officers.