Mayor Urges LAPD to Help Close Budget Gap

Citing a looming budget shortfall, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called Thursday on the Los Angeles Police Department to consider trimming some traditional perks, including the ability of many officers to take home city cars.

In a letter to Police Chief William J. Bratton, the mayor said the department must find efficiencies to help the city avoid a potential $271-million budget shortfall while expanding the police force by 1,000 officers during the next four years.

The LAPD accounts for $1.6 billion of the city’s $3.9-billion budget, so it cannot be immune from cuts, the mayor said.

“As we move to increase public safety by recruiting and deploying more officers, I will continue to request action to identify efficiencies and improvements in every department, including the LAPD,” Villaraigosa wrote. “I appreciate your efforts already taken in this regard and ask that your staff continue its ongoing focus on the following opportunities within the LAPD.”

In addition to evaluating the number of city cars being driven home by employees, the mayor asked Bratton to look at whether the command staff can make do with fewer adjutants, use technology to become more efficient and evaluate the number of sworn officers doing desk jobs that could be filled by civilians.

Currently, 1,057 LAPD employees are authorized to take city vehicles home at night, a department spokesman said, adding that those people include 382 members of the command staff and motorcycle officers, and 675 detectives and officers below the rank of lieutenant.

The mayor asked Bratton to “complete a specific analysis to determine which staff has vehicles and the justification for their ongoing use.”

Because many officers live far from their LAPD jobs, the city might save money if more employees use their own cars, officials said.

Lt. Paul Vernon said that the chief would reevaluate the authorizations but that the department already closely scrutinizes who takes city cars home.

He said that many detectives and command officers are on call around the clock and that taking away their city car might not save money. “You have detectives responding to homicides who would have to go to a police station to get a car, and it’s just not as efficient that way,” Vernon said.

The mayor also asked that the chief’s report, to be submitted by April 19, include “the ratio of adjutant -- personal assistant -- administrative staff to command staff.”

Currently the ratio is 1 to 1 for some ranks.

Vernon said 35 department employees of the rank of commander and above each has an officer who serves as his or her aide.