Pubdate: Fri, 16 Apr 2004
Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2004 Los Angeles Daily News
Contact: http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E21664%257E,00.html
Website: http://www.DailyNews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/246
Author: James Nash

PLAN TO INCREASE OFFICERS ON STREET DIGS INTO DARE

Mayor James Hahn and Police Chief William Bratton on Friday unveiled plans 
to reassign 52 police officers -- including some from the DARE program -- 
to "higher-priority" duties that will put more officers on the street.

In his proposed budget for the 2004-05 fiscal year, Hahn also authorizes 
Bratton to add 30 more officers to the LAPD's ranks. The announcement came 
one year after Hahn lost a bid to expand the Los Angeles Police Department 
by 320 officers.

"We lack the resources to hire hundreds more police officers, but we are 
looking for creative ways to put additional officers into our communities," 
Hahn said.

The move all but spells the demise of the LAPD's Drug Abuse Resistance 
Education program, which was founded in Los Angeles in 1983 to encourage 
children to avoid drugs and gangs. The DARE program's 15 officers will be 
reassigned to other duties, leaving only a token liaison function with the 
national DARE organization, Bratton said.

"We're trying to do more with what we have," Bratton said during a news 
conference. "The reality is, the money is not there this year. Next year 
maybe it will be."

Hahn's proposal last year to expand the 9,211-officer LAPD by 320 officers 
ran into strong opposition from City Council members who said the expansion 
would saddle the city with unbearable costs for years.

Hahn said Friday that his more modest goal of adding 30 officers by July 
2005 would help maintain progress in rolling back violent crime while 
preserving other city services.

"We're trying to concentrate on providing direct services to constituents," 
Hahn said. "We've heard from neighborhood councils and the community that 
public safety is job No. 1."

Hahn and Bratton said that with no money to expand the LAPD by more than a 
few officers, the department would stretch its existing personnel even 
further. Background checks will be performed by civilians instead of 
officers, and 320 police supervisors will be deployed in the field once a 
month to high-crime areas, they said.

The demise of the DARE program, which has shrunk in recent years, may be 
the most visible change.

Lt. Tony Lomedico, who heads the LAPD's DARE program, lamented the loss of 
DARE, what has become to many a critical community policing crime 
prevention program.

"Hopefully with the proper funding and resources we can build it back up in 
the future," he said. "We're saddened that because of the crime situation 
we can't deliver our message of prevention, self-esteem building and 
role-model figures to the youth."

* Staff Writer Jason Kandel contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart