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Subject: Los Angeles To Vote on Police Issues;Tax Hikes Would Boost Staff,
Date: Sun, 1 Nov 92 09:14:31 EST
Message-ID: <35.1992Nov1.091431@AmeriCast.com>

Los Angeles To Vote on Police Issues;Tax Hikes Would Boost Staff,
Communications<By Lou Cannon<Washington Post Staff Writer<

LOS ANGELES, Oct.  31 - With this city still shaken by the deadly
riots of six months ago, Police Chief Willie Williams is urging
voters to approve a pair of ballot measures that would raise pro-
perty taxes to provide funds to improve an outmoded police com-
munications system and hire an additional 1,000 officers.

Because the measures require approval of two-thirds of those vot-
ing, passage is far from certain despite post-riot assessments
that found a severe shortage of officers and a breakdown in radio
communications.

"You have some knee-jerk people who don't want tax increases for
any reason, but there is no question that Los Angeles needs more
police officers," said attorney Warren Christopher, who headed
the commission that investigated the LAPD after the March 3,
1991, beating of black motorist Rodney King.

The virtual exoneration by a suburban jury of four white LAPD
officers who apprehended King triggered the April 29 riots, which
claimed more than 50 lives.

Anti-tax groups acknowledge a need for more officers but say city
officials should divert money from other uses.  "We think there's
enough money in the ($3.8 billion) budget to pay for police,"
said Joel Fox, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Associa-
tion.  The Los Angeles Police Department is the nation's most un-
derstaffed in terms of numbers of officers compared to citizens.

The LAPD has 2.2 officers per 1,000 residents. The comparable ra-
tio in the District of Columbia is 8.3 officers per 1,000 people.
The New York City department, to which the LAPD has often been
compared, has 3.8 officers per 1,000 people.

Part of the LAPD mystique, fostered by legendary LAPD chief Wil-
liam Parker two decades ago, was that the department functions
effectively with a small force because of modern technology. But
the mobile communications system failed during the riots, causing
confusion in the police response.

As a result, distress calls were virtually ignored.

According to John Stodder, a former city official who heads the
campaign for the two measures, one in six 911 citizen emergency
calls routinely goes unanswered. A television commercial in
behalf of Proposition M, the $235 million bond measure that would
upgrade the communications system, shows a woman who hears an in-
truder but cannot get the police to respond to her call.

The companion measure, Proposition N, would appropriate $101 mil-
lion to add 1,000 officers to the LAPD, which currently has 7,900
officers.

The measure also would pay the cost of training and patrol cars.
It would raise tax costs for the average home in the city $73 an-
nually; Proposition M would boost taxes another $12.50 on the
same home.  Proposition N could become a victim of the enduring
political conflict between outgoing Mayor Tom Bradley, who backs
the measure, and former police chief Daryl F. Gates, now a radio
talk show host, who opposes it.

The local police union, staunchly pro-Gates, also came out
against the measure Thursday in a move that Stodder said reflects
lingering animosity toward Bradley.  Christopher and Stodder are
optimistic that the proposal to upgrade the communications sys-
tem, at least, will pass and that support for Proposition N will
be so strong that it will encourage the new mayor and City Coun-
cil that will be elected in April 1993 to hire more police off-
icers.

But Los Angeles could be running out of time. Officials are wor-
ried that there could be new disturbances next year after ver-
dicts in the trials of the black defendants accused of assaulting
white truck driver Reginald Denny during the riots and the
federal retrial of the four police officers, who are now accused
under federal law of violating King's civil rights.

Williams, who has been campaigning strongly for both measures,
said in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times that "there
will be some serious consequences" if Proposition N does not pass
and the department is unable to boost the number of off-
icers.<02:35 11-01C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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