Hahn Offers Community Police Plan

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn promised Thursday to bolster community policing by speeding up the return of senior lead officers to the field and dedicating five officers to the program for every 35 new recruits who join the department.

Hahn’s pledge, two days after he announced his opposition to a second five-year term for Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, came at a meeting with about 100 supportive neighborhood activists from around the city who have been lobbying for the return of the senior lead officers, who work as community liaisons.

The activists gathered at the Van Nuys Library applauded Hahn’s opposition to Parks, saying they agree with the mayor’s assessment that the chief has been slow to restore the program he once terminated.

“It took a lot of courage to do what you’ve done,” said North Hills resident Harry Coleman, as people rose to their feet and gave the mayor a sustained standing ovation.

Lt. Horace Frank, spokesman for the LAPD, said later that he wasn’t familiar with details of Hahn’s plan. But, he said, “the chief’s position has always been that every officer--every officer--should be involved in community policing.”

In the last few days, Hahn has been pummeled by criticism from African American political leaders angry that he is against the reappointment of the black police chief. But in the San Fernando Valley on Thursday, the mayor was thanked repeatedly by residents who said he showed guts by making what is a politically unpopular decision in some quarters.

The mayor appeared moved by the show of support but quickly turned the topic back to community policing.

“I appreciate your comments, but I want to talk about what we need to do to make the city safer,” he said.

Hahn said he is committed to returning all senior lead officers to their posts and hopes to fully restore the program within six months. Parks says the program has been restored and carried out in the form mandated by an agreement with the police union approved by the Police Commission and City Council.

In the next few weeks, Hahn is going to present the commission with a proposal to move five officers into senior lead positions for every 35 new police cadets that bolster the LAPD’s ranks, aides said. The commision’s five members, all Hahn appointees, are also due to determine the fate of Parks, who said Wednesday that he is going forward with his reappointment bid despite Hahn’s request that he bow out.

Senior lead officers are praised by many residents as their only direct link to the Police Department.

When Parks became chief in 1997, he reassigned about 160 senior lead officers to patrol duties, saying he wanted all patrol officers to perform community-policing functions. The model employed by Parks is similar to that used in several other cities.

But the move produced a sharp backlash from many community groups, and former Mayor Richard Riordan ultimately ordered Parks to restore the program.

Under the current program, senior lead officers can work up to four days a week on community policing, but also must do patrol at least one day a week.

When he announced his opposition to the chief’s reappointment Tuesday, the mayor said he wants senior leads to be exempted from patrol duties and charged that Parks has not pushed hard enough to restore the program.

Parks denies that.

LAPD Cmdr. Dan Koenig said further that senior lead officers are not doing more than two days a week on patrol.

But on Thursday, residents hotly disputed that, saying that in many divisions the officers do community work only a couple times a month.

Boyle Heights resident Terry Gonzalez told the mayor at the forum that the reduced hours of the senior lead officer in her neighborhood have made a recent spate of killings even more difficult to cope with.

When shootings happen, Gonzalez said, the officer is “our lifeline,” providing information about places to avoid.

“We have murders every single day of the week, not just the days he’s available,” she said. “When our senior leads were taken away, the department was taken away.”

Even as Hahn was warmly praised by some neighborhood activists on Thursday, African American community leaders continued to lambaste his opposition to the chief.

Hahn and his staff don’t take the black leaders who endorsed him seriously, said Ken Lombard, the business partner of former Lakers basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Nor, he added, do they “take this community seriously.”

Lombard said Johnson is even flirting with the idea of running for mayor “at the appropriate time” because of Hahn’s decision. Last year, when Johnson was a Hahn supporter, he also indicated a future interest in the job.

“Mr. Johnson clearly feels that this is an issue that the African American community in Los Angeles will not forget,” Lombard said.

Some black officials, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), have said they may launch a recall effort against the man they helped elect.

That campaign could bring together an unlikely alliance of liberal African American officials and discontented San Fernando Valley residents who have been agitating to create a separate city.

Richard Close, chairman of the secession group Valley VOTE, said Thursday that he and other San Fernando Valley leaders have been contacted in the last few days by black leaders from other parts of the city about meeting to discuss a possible recall effort against Hahn.

“If other, credible people organize such a campaign, I would look favorably on participating,” Close said.

He said Hahn’s opposition to a second Parks term is not an issue for Valley leaders. “For us it’s about broken promises,” Close said, citing the mayor’s active opposition to Valley secession and inaction on the expansion of Sunshine Canyon landfill.

At Thursday’s meeting with residents, City Councilman Dennis Zine, who represents the West Valley, said he would fight such an effort.

“I just want to tell Mayor Hahn, I will stand behind him, side by side,” said the former police union official, linking arms with Hahn. “If someone wants to recall Mayor Hahn, recall Dennis Zine.”

*

Times staff writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this report.