Police Disband Highly Praised Narcotics Squad : Law enforcement: Activists protest the reassignment of undercover officers. But it helps meet Chief Williams’ goal of more patrols on the street.

Caught between the new Los Angeles police chief’s desire to put more uniformed officers on the street and a decline in personnel, Foothill Division commanders have disbanded an undercover narcotics unit that made thousands of arrests, putting its officers back on the beat.

Disbanding the so-called RECON unit--at least temporarily--brought an immediate objection from community activists who said the squad was a vital tool in the fight against deeply rooted drug sales problems.

Community support has saved the squad in the past. When the station commander disbanded the unit three years ago, angry residents staged protests before the Foothill Station in Pacoima and the department’s downtown headquarters until the unit was reinstated.

Capt. Tim McBride, commander of the station, said this time the seven-officer unit could again be revived if other methods of dealing with drug sales problems have no effect. But McBride said the move was made because the number of patrol officers in the division has been shrinking due to retirements and reassignments, just as Chief Willie L. Williams launched a campaign to reduce specialized units and put as many officers as possible on the streets in uniform.

“Providing service is a continual balancing act as our resources decline,” McBride said Thursday. “The more officers you lose, the more specialized units you lose. I know the community is in favor of RECON, yet I have a chief who is in favor of reducing specialization. That puts us in a quandary.”

McBride has been unable to fill vacancies on his patrol force because of a department hiring freeze. He estimated that the patrol force is about 25 officers short of the 184 needed to cover the 60-square-mile division, and the number of uniformed sergeants has fallen from 17 to 11.

The 5-year-old RECON unit--Rapid Enforcement Concentrated on Narcotics--included six officers and a sergeant who worked undercover and normally produced at least 50 arrests a month, police said.

Disbanding it largely leaves undercover drug enforcement in the Foothill area to a San Fernando Valley-wide narcotics unit that has been hit hard itself by retirements of officers who were not replaced because of the hiring freeze.

McBride said Foothill patrol officers will attempt to make up for the unit’s disappearance, to the point of parking in patrol cars at suspected drug dealing locations to discourage sales.

McBride said he also hopes the valleywide narcotics unit and drug units operating out of headquarters downtown will increase activity in the Foothill area after Williams announces his departmental reorganization later this month.

Williams, who was out of the city on a management retreat, could not be reached for comment.

Northeast Valley activists reacted with disappointment to news that the unit has been disbanded.

“We would definitely be opposed to RECON being removed,” said Irene Tovar, who organized the protests three years ago and now is a member of a Foothill police advisory council.

“If that’s what they are doing, we have to reassess our priorities of who is being shifted,” she added. “We have cleaned up whole neighborhoods because of RECON. But there are hot spots still all over. We should maintain what we have--don’t cripple us.”

Lake View Terrace resident Eileen Barry said she was sympathetic to the department’s manpower shortage, but believes other administrative units should be disbanded before RECON.

“I understand what Chief Williams wants to do, and we want to encourage that, but I think this unit is one that should be kept,” said Barry, who is also on the Foothill police advisory council.

McBride said the effect of returning seven officers to uniform is significant. He said he often has difficulties filling a bare minimum of assignments in uniformed patrol and supervisor positions.

But Fred Taylor, who is on the Foothill police advisory council and also heads a consortium of business and homeowner groups, said drug dealing will spread without the RECON unit.

“This is a step back--the worst move that could be made,” he said. “The RECON unit is the most effective tool that the Police Department has in dealing with drug dealing in the residential setting. Sending in a black and white will not be effective in that setting.”

McBride said that if drug sales rise the unit will be quickly reinstated.

“We will be continually evaluating,” McBride said. “RECON was an excellent tool. I am somewhat dubious about this because the community wants it. But we are trying to live with the spirit of what Chief Williams has asked for.”