Riordan’s Budget Fails to Fix LAPD Problems, Union Says

The union for Los Angeles police officers criticized Mayor Richard Riordan Friday, saying that his final city budget does far too little to attract and retain employees at the troubled Police Department.

The president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which has differed with Riordan occasionally but delivered for him at key junctures over the years, said that money put aside for signing bonuses for new officers is a silly expenditure that does not deal with the root problems of poor morale and inflexible work schedules that are driving veteran officers to other departments.

The criticism presents an interesting challenge for the two men running to replace Riordan--former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and City Atty. James K. Hahn--who are working hard to win the endorsements of the outgoing mayor and the police union. Those are considered important endorsements in a campaign that features the two candidates angling to win the support of moderate and conservative voters, who helped elect Riordan and who may be influenced by the police union’s view of the candidates.

On Friday, Hahn and Villaraigosa sang the praises of Riordan’s budget, saying it puts the city on a sound financial footing and helps expand services they consider high priorities--adding hours of service at libraries and recreation centers and increasing street maintenance and tree trimming.

Both finalists in the June 5 mayoral election said they were troubled that the LAPD will shrink by nearly 400 police officers, but they did not blame Riordan for that shortfall. Instead, they praised the mayor for his budget’s focus on bringing in more officers--in part with the new $2,000 signing bonus that the police union derided.

Both candidates have also said they support the police union in its efforts to secure officers a four-day work week. But they did not criticize Riordan for failing to support the altered schedules, either in his budget or other policy pronouncements.

The two candidates walk a fine line to curry the favor of Riordan and the police union. The league endorsed Riordan in 1993 and again in 1997, but has publicly disagreed with him on issues such as the union’s quest for a compressed work schedule and over the performance of Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, whom Riordan appointed but who is widely criticized by rank-and-file officers.

The potential conflict between winning those endorsements may have its first full airing today when the two candidates are scheduled to huddle with league leaders. The union directors and some field representatives said they plan to press the two about their records on law enforcement and their plans for the LAPD. Within the next two weeks, rank-and-file officers are expected to vote on which man to endorse.

Some of the items in Riordan’s budget are sure to be discussed.

On Friday, for instance, union leaders said the $2,000 signing bonus for newly hired officers and other measures to lure recruits would not work.

“The young people today that want to become police officers are pretty sophisticated, and they aren’t going to be duped by a signing bonus,” said Bob Baker, the league’s vice president.

Baker said Riordan failed to take steps to make LAPD jobs more attractive, such as a work week of four 10-hour days or by improving pension benefits to match other law enforcement agencies.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that whatever we’re doing is wrong,” he said.

Indeed, LAPD attrition has dogged Riordan in recent years and left him far short of his original campaign promises to build a police force of 10,000.

“His goal was 10,000 officers, and the truth is we don’t have anything close to that,” Baker said of the department, which will shrink to 8,654 officers by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2002.

He also cast the issue as a threat to public safety. At a time of rising crime, he said, scores of officers are being diverted from street patrol to duties required by the court consent decree mandating reforms to curb police misconduct.

“My question to him [Riordan] is: Who’s going to be out handling the calls for citizens?” Baker said.