LAPD Will Require Desk Officers to Walk the Beat Twice a Month

In the wake of the mayor’s refusal to provide money for police foot patrols, Chief Daryl F. Gates has approved a plan to mobilize desk-bound officers to walk the beats twice a month, officials said Thursday.

The plan to mobilize administrators, tentatively scheduled to begin in late October, would allow police to deploy the popular foot beats without dipping into budgetary reserves, Cmdr. William Booth said.

“We see this as a reasonable and feasible way within our current budget to meet the needs the community has voiced,” Booth said.

Gates has approved the plan and implementation details are being pulled together by the department’s Office of Operations using reports compiled by supervisors on the numbers of officers available.

Initial plans called for plainclothes officers through the rank of sergeant working administrative or desk jobs to don uniforms and walk beats two days during each 28-day deployment period. Case-carrying detectives probably would not be included.

“Basically we’re asking does a person have to be on a desk job five days a week or is four enough,” said one administrative officer working on the plan. “We’re looking at who we can squeeze loose.”

Booth and other administrators denied that the plan is a response to Mayor Tom Bradley’s veto of a City Council plan to fund foot patrols in 18 of the city’s crime hot spots with an allocation of $2.5 million.

The mayor recommended that the council approve a $750,000 expenditure for a three-month pilot foot-patrol program, with the bill being paid by a surplus in the department’s salary account due to unfilled positions.

The mayor’s suggestion, expected to be implemented by the council, drew a warning earlier this week from Assistant Police Chief Robert Vernon, who said using salary savings and other cost-cutting methods to fund the foot beats could jeopardize other police efforts.

Council committee meetings to discuss the mayor’s recommendation have been marked by appeals from residents of crime-ridden communities who asked for an override of the veto and sought the city’s commitment to help rid their neighborhoods of gangs and drug dealers.