Chief Bends on 3-Day Week

Striking a conciliatory tone, Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said Tuesday that he would implement a new officer work schedule--if Mayor-elect James K. Hahn and his Police Commission insist.

Parks has long been a vocal opponent of the so-called compressed work schedule, which allows some officers to work fewer days and longer hours. After a half-hour meeting with Hahn, the chief attempted to downplay his problems with that schedule, saying instead that, as the police chief, he must follow policy.

“The chief of police has two major roles,” Parks said in a joint news conference with Hahn. “I believe my role is to be very, very candid and frank in bringing information [to the mayor], . . . and the other role I have is to implement public policy. If it’s a public policy decision . . . our job is to implement public policy.”

The officer work schedule was a major point of contention during the recent mayoral election. Hahn won the endorsement of the Police Protective League after he pledged his commitment to a compressed work schedule. Antonio Villaraigosa, Hahn’s opponent, would not agree to a schedule in which officers worked three 12-hour shifts per week and charged that Hahn favored taking officers off the streets to appease the union.

Some City Council members also have expressed reservations about the compressed work schedule. Their support would be needed for the department to adopt the new schedule in part because it has financial implications for the city budget.

Hahn reiterated his commitment to that and other more flexible work schedules Tuesday, saying he spoke to the police union after the June 5 election and again promised to push for a new work schedule.

“I committed [to the police union] that I wanted to see a compressed work schedule that would include some officers on 3-12 within three months,” Hahn said. “That’s my commitment, that’s my goal.”

Parks’ comments drew praise from the police union, which already is working with Hahn’s transition team on a compressed work schedule proposal.

“That’s the most cooperative I’ve heard him sound,” said Mitzi Grasso, the union president, referring to the chief. “I feel very good about that.”

The union is proposing a schedule in which officers would work 13 or 14 12-hour days over the 28-day deployment period. By the union’s calculations, that schedule could increase police presence.

Parks has expressed concern that there are not enough officers to cover all the shifts under such a schedule, and that the long days will produce officer fatigue.

The more flexible work schedule is one part of Hahn’s public safety priorities. Most are aimed at recruiting and retaining officers, improving morale and boosting community policing efforts.

Hahn’s meeting with Parks was the mayor-elect’s first with a city department head. Hahn said he will meet with the other general managers as time allows, but that he wanted to meet first with Parks, head of “the city’s most important department.” The LAPD has a $1.3-billion budget.

The half-hour meeting, attended by Hahn, Parks and Hahn’s chief of staff, Tim McOsker, was intended for Hahn to discuss some of his priorities with the chief.

Hahn, who takes office July 1, did not bring up his proposal to appoint a full-time Police Commission president with a salary equal to the chief’s. Hahn said the two talked briefly about a strong Police Commission but did not address his proposal for a full-time president.

“I think immediately what we need to do is make sure we have the strongest Police Commission we can get,” Hahn said.

The five-member, civilian commission, made up of mayoral appointees, oversees the department and the chief.

Other topics included ways for the department to become more involved in after-school programs, an area of deep interest to Hahn. And the two talked about the department’s recruitment and retention efforts, which Parks said need to be better packaged to attract officers. Overall, he said: “We certainly have consistent concerns in the area of public safety.”

Parks pledged to meet routinely with Hahn and his staff.

Hahn, meanwhile, said his transition is moving apace, but that he does not have much time to make appointments. “We’re reviewing thousands of resumes,” he said. “We’re moving as fast as we can.”