Commission Backs Sixth Police Station

The Los Angeles Police Commission voted Thursday to recommend creating a sixth San Fernando Valley police division and a second Valley administrative bureau after LAPD officials promised that the changes would “dramatically” reduce emergency response times.

Deputy Chief Michael Bostic, commanding officer of the Valley Bureau, said the reorganization would help reduce response times, which are eight to nine minutes in some parts of the Valley, to seven minutes, the department goal.

“This is the next logical step for policing in the San Fernando Valley,” Bostic told the Police Commission.

Commissioners agreed to send the plan to the City Council for final action.

“This looks like a long overdue move and it’s a very sensible one to reflect the growth in the Valley,” said Commissioner Dean Hansell.

Bostic and Hansell said the ability to carry out the reorganization hinges largely on whether money is available.

Toward that end, a City Council panel recommended Thursday that Los Angeles voters be asked in April to approve a $744-million bond measure to build new police and fire stations, including a sixth Valley station.

The new north-central Valley facility would take over some of the area and workload now handled by the other five stations, and probably would become the busiest division in the Valley, Bostic said.

The deputy chief said the additional station would reduce the Valleywide average response time to emergency calls by 36 seconds, to seven minutes.

As of last month, the Devonshire Station, with 46 square miles to patrol, had an average response time of nine minutes. West Valley had an average response time of eight minutes, 42 seconds, while Foothill Division averaged eight minutes, 18 seconds. Van Nuys and North Hollywood divisions both had response times of less than seven minutes, but North Hollywood only covers 25 square miles.

Devonshire, West Valley and Foothill have three of the four longest response times in the city, Bostic said.

“We have so many miles to drive we just can’t get there that fast,” he told the commission.

The Valley, with its nearly 2,000 officers, represents nearly half of the city’s land area and population, so adding another station and dividing it into two bureaus for management purposes is required, he said.

“When those commands start getting that big, it’s very difficult to manage that large an area,” Bostic said. It will allow the deputy chiefs overseeing the two bureaus more time to respond to requests to meet with the public.

There are currently four bureaus in the city, each with a deputy chief who oversees an area with several police divisions, or stations.

Chief Bernard Parks proposes dividing the Valley into north and south Valley bureaus, with the dividing line generally along Roscoe Boulevard.

The LAPD hopes the new Valley Bureau can be established by the end of the year.

The $40 million budgeted in the proposed bond measure for the sixth Valley station could also be used to purchase the Department of Water and Power’s Anthony Office Building in Sun Valley, which could house both the sixth station and the second Valley Bureau.

The full council will vote today on whether to put the bond measure on the ballot, but there is broad support at City Hall, where officials said it reflects their top public safety priorities. It is the first phase of a 20-year, $2-billion public safety improvement plan to be implemented in five-year increments.

“I’m a very strong, resounding, supportive vote for this proposal,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee. “There is a clear and pressing need to expand our police stations and fire stations, to improve existing ones and to build additional stations.”

Jennifer Roth, an aide to Mayor Richard Riordan, also voiced support for the proposal.

“I think the result is a strong package that responds to public safety needs in this city and that we should feel proud to put to the voters,” she told the council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Capital Improvements.

The police bonds would build two additional stations and replace four existing stations, including the old West Valley facility.

In addition, the measure would build a replacement for Parker Center, the LAPD’s downtown headquarters. Council members decided to postpone building a new downtown jail in order to keep the bond measure under $750 million.

The jail was recommended for the second round of bonds despite claims by City Atty. James Hahn that the facility is needed now to detain more suspects awaiting arraignment.

But council members said the existing Parker Center jail will have to do because a new jail would add $40 million to the bond measure, putting it over the budget agreed to by the council.

The recommended bond fund also provides for replacing 17 old and cramped fire stations, including facilities in Arleta, Studio City, Northridge, Sun Valley, Encino and Woodland Hills. The measure would also replace the Fire Department’s air support facility at Van Nuys Airport.

In addition, the city plans to assure voters that project managers and an oversight committee will be assigned to make sure the bond projects are built on time and on budget. The sixth Valley station was promised but never delivered as part of a bond measure approved in 1989.

“These [new protections] are ways to make sure every dollar is being spent well,” Chick said. “We’ve learned from past problems.”

Cutting 40 seconds or more from emergency response times in the Valley is also seen as a major selling point as city officials attempt to get the necessary two-thirds vote in April for passage of the bonds.

In the interim, the Police Commission also was briefed Thursday on plans by Parks to transfer part of North Hills from the Van Nuys to the Devonshire Division.

Bostic said it would provide one command over policing of the area, which has been plagued by drug sales and violent crime.

Councilman Hal Bernson has voiced concern that the transfer could take away policing from the rest of the Devonshire Division, but Bostic said he has asked Bernson to give the change time to work. About 50 police officers will be transferred from Van Nuys to Devonshire as part of the territorial swap, Bostic said.

“The [current] split of North Hills really makes no sense, logically,” Bostic said. “Why should it be split between two commands?”