Greater Use of Valley Shooting Range Rejected

The Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday rejected a proposal to shift more firearms practice from Elysian Park to a shooting range in Granada Hills, citing increased cost and other problems.

The action was a relief to residents who have complained bitterly of noise from the new San Fernando Valley facility.

City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg had proposed a reduction in the operating hours for the Elysian Park shooting range in her district, and the eventual closure of that facility, forcing nearly 10,000 officers to travel to Granada Hills for regular retesting in firearms use.

Chief Bernard Parks told the commission a proposal to open the range an hour later at 8 a.m. and close it an hour earlier at 7 p.m. is impractical. Shaving the range hours could force about 1,800 officers assigned to morning watch to take overtime to train with their weapons, costing about $550,000 annually, Parks said in a report to the commission.

Just cutting an hour off the evening operations would not affect as many officers, he said.

“However, the effect on other critical training will be devastating,” Parks stated.

In particular, the chief was concerned about limiting the opportunity for officers to practice firing their weapons after dark.

“This presents a public safety and liability issue, as officer-involved shootings frequently occur in reduced-light conditions,” Parks said.

Police Commissioner Raquelle de la Rocha, a Valley attorney, said 20% of the officers who once trained in Elysian Park already have moved to the firing ranges in Granada Hills, which opened a year ago.

“You have to balance the needs of the department with the imposition on the public,” she said. “This [Elysian Park] facility has been in operation for 60 years.”

De la Rocha said she was concerned about long travel times to Granada Hills.

“There are some big geographical distances between the two [ranges],” she said. “Unless you live in the Valley, Granada Hills is very far to drive. It’s an extra hour.”

The Parks report stated the department could find no documented community complaints about the Elysian Park range, but that some command officers recall noise being an issue in the early ‘90s.

Elysian Park resident Sally Neubauer told the panel the noise of gunfire is a nuisance.

“It shows that this commission is not willing to stand up for inner-city residents. [Granada Hills] is definitely getting better treatment than Elysian Park,” Neubauer said.

The decision not to shift more officers to the Valley shooting ranges was praised by Granada Hills residents, including John Moranville, president of the 500-member Knollwood Property Owners Assn.

“That’s welcome news to us,” Moranville said. “Now we just want to know what they are going to do to quiet the noise out here.”

Earlier this month LAPD officials said they have budgeted about $100,000 to install sound-reduction panels at the Granada Hills range after receiving numerous complaints from neighbors about the sound of gunfire at the facility’s shooting ranges.