Shortages Top Brooks’ Worries

Rather than computer malfunctions, Ventura County’s top law enforcement official is more concerned about doomsday hoarders and millennial revelers when the new year dawns.

Analysts worldwide predict a wave of problems because computer systems may not be able to distinguish the year 2000 from 1900. But the biggest problem, according to Sheriff Bob Brooks, may be shortages prompted by panicked shoppers, not fizzled computer chips.

“People have never celebrated the way they will celebrate this year,” Brooks said Wednesday during a discussion of Y2K preparedness. “Our job is to prepare for the worst and hope it doesn’t happen.”

As a consequence, all available deputies will be on duty New Year’s Eve, Brooks said. No one will get vacation time during the critical weekend.

In addition, the Sheriff’s Department will establish an emergency operations center, where 30 deputies, firefighters, California Highway Patrol officers, county technicians and health care workers will handle any crisis.

Brooks made his comments at a meeting with Los Angeles Times editors and reporters.

Meanwhile, a state Y2K expert met with local city and county leaders at the Ventura County Government Center to assure them that state computer systems are prepared for the changeover to 2000.

“We think this will be the biggest nonevent in history,” said David Lema, Gov. Gray Davis’ Y2K advisor. “We hope it’s a real boring night and half of our employees are napping.”

Besides power outages, telephone and sewage failures, experts have warned of possible problems at train stations, airports and harbors. There have also been predictions of equipment failures at hospitals, banks and markets.

After months of preparation and several countywide drills, Brooks is confident that Ventura County won’t suffer those kinds of problems.

“The county as a whole is 98% ready for Y2K,” he said.

But just in case, 40 county technical employees will work throughout the weekend to deal with any computer breakdowns at the county hospital, jail, tax collector and payroll departments, Brooks said.

On the state level, Lema said Ventura County authorities will be directly linked to Davis’ office, which has set up 19 operations centers around the globe.

One is in Auckland, New Zealand, which will be the first major city in the world to witness the new age. Minutes after the clock strikes midnight in Auckland, local officials will know whether all the Y2K hype was much ado about nothing.

If something monumental goes haywire there, local authorities will have 20 hours to prepare for similar problems here. Lema said 60 federal employees will be working at the Office of Emergency Services in Sacramento on New Year’s Eve to communicate with officials from each of the state’s counties.

The governor’s “Follow the Sun” program won’t have to rely on television, radio or newspapers for information.

“Our team of public information officers and legal analysts around the world will have a direct pipeline to people at the California command center,” Lema said.

But the hype associated with the big event does have local officials worrying about the possibility of collective panic, which could cause massive traffic tie-ups, price-gouging, and long lines at grocery stores and gas stations.

“Markets usually have only three days of commodities, and gas is the same,” Brooks said. “If everyone tries to take stock at the last minute, then we could have shortages.”

Emergency services authorities have already asked grocers, retailers and bank officials to check in with the Sheriff’s Department if commodities start getting low.

Lema echoed Brooks’ fears that public behavior on New Year’s Eve and the weeks and days leading up to it may eclipse any technical breakdowns. Sacramento officials will be monitoring that as well.

“We’ll be able to characterize public behavior in other parts of the world,” Lema said. “We’ll see if people are crashing chairs over each other as part of the celebration.”

Brooks hopes that people will remain calm.

“We’re probably going to be relatively OK,” Brooks said. “But if people panic, that’s going to be our biggest problem.”

Staff writers Tina Dirmann and Daryl Kelley contributed to this report.

’ Our job is to prepare for the worst and hope it doesn’t happen. ‘