LAPD to Have Role in Stadium Security

After fan misbehavior marred a game last Tuesday and overwhelmed their security force, the Dodgers said Monday they would hire uniformed Los Angeles Police Department officers to patrol the stands at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers also said they would increase the number of security staff and ushers, announced a director of security and said they had not decided whether to offer $2 tickets on any future Tuesdays, a promotion introduced as “True Blue Tuesdays” but dubbed by one security guard as “Fight Night Tuesdays.”

The Dodgers said the security “enhancements” would take effect Friday, when the team begins its next homestand. However, the Los Angeles Police Commission must first approve a proposal that would permit the LAPD to pay overtime to uniformed officers working games and other events on an off-duty basis, provided that the venue operator repaid the department, according to LAPD Chief of Staff Jim McDonnell.

The commission is scheduled to consider the proposal today.

“It would be presumptuous to assume they will approve it,” McDonnell said. “I’m optimistic they will.”

Neither McDonnell nor Marty Greenspun, the Dodgers’ chief operating officer, would say how much the team would pay the LAPD or how many officers might be hired.

McDonnell said an estimate would be “dozens as opposed to hundreds, but I don’t know if they’d have a need for that many.”

Last Tuesday, the second night on which tickets in the outer reserved, top deck and pavilion seats were cut from $10 and $6 to $2, two teenagers jumped from the right-field pavilion onto the field. As the boys were arrested, fans in the pavilion littered the field with cups, bottles and other debris, delaying the game for nearly 10 minutes.

Fans seated in the pavilions on both $2 nights also reported fights and an outbreak of abusive and obscene language.

Greenspun said the officers would be stationed throughout all seating areas, not just in the pavilions.

“I think it brings another level of safety and security for our fans,” he said. “I think pretty much every other venue in Los Angeles has some kind of uniformed police as part of their security presence.”

The Angels have long employed Anaheim police officers, in uniform, as part of their security force. Sgt. Rick Martinez, spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department, said he believed the arrangement dated to 1966, when the stadium opened.

Martinez would not say how much the Angels pay or how many officers they use, but he did say the number varied depending upon such factors as projected attendance and the intensity of the rivalry with an opponent.

He said a relatively small number of officers can operate in concert with a larger number of workers hired by a private security company.

“It works well when both are on-site,” Martinez said. “A private security firm can take care of most of the problems without creating too much of a scene. However, if the need arises, we’re there to take immediate action.”

Also Monday, the Dodgers announced the hiring of Shahram Ariane to the newly created position of director of security. Ariane is a former security director at Staples Center.

Greenspun said Ariane had been hired five weeks ago. Dodger spokeswoman Kelly Mullens said the announcement of his hiring was not a response to last week’s incident and said the team had not had a chance to release the information.