Officials Cast LAPD Breakup as Logistical Nightmare

If the Valley or another area were to break away from the city of Los Angeles, the herculean task of creating a new police department will never be a case of secede first, then divide later.

With 9,300 sworn officers and dozens of specialized units, the Los Angeles Police Department could not simply divvy up its resources to meet the needs of a new splinter city, an LAPD deputy chief said Tuesday.

Some of the LAPD’s highly specialized units, such as the crime lab, are too costly and complex for most cities to replicate, said Deputy Chief Maurice Moore.

The unit is already hard-pressed to meet the needs of the entire Police Department, but it might be possible to serve a new city on a contract basis, Moore said.

The LAPD also could not simply chop up its massive information systems that contain criminal reports, traffic reports, payroll and other vital data, Moore said.

“We couldn’t give it away and say, ‘this can go to the Valley or the Harbor,’ ” Moore told a City Hall committee of consultants and city staff who are studying secession.

Three consultants from the financial consulting group Public Financial Management, who are studying secession’s possible effects on the city, questioned Moore at a City Hall hearing Tuesday on what services might be contracted to the LAPD.

One particularly thorny issue is the 911 emergency system. Moore said the LAPD had long planned for a proposed 911 system in the Valley to serve as a backup in case the downtown system failed, and vice versa. “Some $23 million has already been invested,” he said.

Valley secessionists have proposed having their own police department, based on their share of resources from the LAPD, while Harbor area cityhood backers have asked the county Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles and Long Beach police departments to submit competitive bids for a contract to police their area.

In a written report, the LAPD cited several additional problems with division of the department.

All biological evidence collected at crime scenes is stored downtown, and a $10 million automated tracking system for evidence “could not reasonably be divided into two or three parts . . .,” said the written report from Cmdr. Ronald Bergmann, who heads the LAPD’s administrative group. Bergmann also said the LAPD would not be satisfied with the security of sharing an evidence-tracking system.

Police officials also questioned how they would divide up major scientific equipment at the LAPD crime lab, including the department’s $250,000 scanning electron microscope and its $310,000 Noritsu Minilab photography system.

Any breakup could cause problems with the Valley jail in Van Nuys, which also handles arrestees from the West Los Angeles and Pacific bureaus. At the same time, any breakup would have to resolve the fate of major LAPD assets in the Valley, including the patrol car and firearms training center in Granada Hills, and the primary helicopter repair facility at Van Nuys Airport.

Valley VOTE, the group promoting secession, has proposed that it receive its proportional share of the police force based on the fact that, according to the group, the Valley represents 36% of the city’s population.

Today, about 1,694 of the department’s 9,300 officers work in the Valley. To give the Valley its proportional share, the Valley would have to get 3,371 officers, or double the number now stationed here.

Richard Close, chairman of Valley VOTE, said he wasn’t surprised by the LAPD’s assessment.

“It’s normal for all the departments in the city to try to scare residents,” Close said.