City of Los Angeles General Services Department Police - Park Rangers

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LAflyer

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Thanks for the article.

These guys do certainly have lots of ground to cover and the city budget cuts have made their job even harder.

I recall hearing earlier in the year a call about an assault in progress at a library and the closest unit was some 20-mins away. Also once heard a 459 in progress at some City facility and they could barely get 4 units to the scene in a half hour to help with the containment.
 

PaulNDaOC

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I would hope that they are also notifying LAPD on these type of in incidents. Long ETA's likee this are inexcusable for critical incidents.
 
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LAflyer

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The Mayor's budget due out on Friday will propose merging the Gen Svcs Office of Public Safety into the LAPD.

Plan would expand LAPD ranks by adding public safety workers - latimes.com
and
Mayor Villaraigosa wants to bring General Services cops into LAPD - LA Daily News

While I am sure there can be back office savings by consolidating, I wonder if the Gen Svc PD mission will simply get lost inside the massive LAPD.
Providing coverage supporting libraries, the civic-center, hundreds of parks and city facilities is very different than day to day LAPD policing.
I suppose LAPD could set up a separate division ala the LASD MTA contract units to specifically cover all the former Gen Svc facilities.

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karldotcom

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Well, I remember when the old RTD Police was rolled into LAPD to patrol the busses and Red Line......it worked so well that the LASD got the contract and has kept it ever since. I drive through Griffith Park on nearly a daily basis since my office is nearby....and I have to say I see a Ranger or GSD PD vehicle patrolling nearly every day. And a security guard patrolling the Zoo/Autry museum parking lot area every day. You also see them driving down the bike paths along the LA River, and checking on people in the River...maybe that is considered park land these days.
 

LAflyer

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Proposed budget was released today.

Mayor indeed proposes to consolidate police and security services of the General Services into LAPD.

Budget projects a small near $2mil savings the first year, and would also allow the LAPD to reduce its 2012 attrition hiring and cancel a planned academy class. Budget document states the move would "provide for more efficient and coordinated patrol presence citywide".

Time will tell......
 

SCPD

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Well, I remember when the old RTD Police was rolled into LAPD to patrol the busses and Red Line......it worked so well that the LASD got the contract and has kept it ever since. I drive through Griffith Park on nearly a daily basis since my office is nearby....and I have to say I see a Ranger or GSD PD vehicle patrolling nearly every day. And a security guard patrolling the Zoo/Autry museum parking lot area every day. You also see them driving down the bike paths along the LA River, and checking on people in the River...maybe that is considered park land these days.

The L.A. River is part of one of the several "Conservancy" areas established by the state around the southern California megalopolis. There is a Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and a couple more down there. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and one or two others have linked together to form the "Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority." In the case of the L.A. River I think the city or the county actually manage the conservancy but I'm not entirely sure of that.

The trouble with combining the law enforcement function of parks with a law enforcement only agency, especially a large one, is the land management law enforcement function that is tied to the land management agency is lost. Law enforcement in the NPS, USFS, BLM and similar state agencies intertwine with the agencies land management programs. Resource management personnel interact with law enforcement to combine efforts that result in effective land management. This intertwining is very difficult when you have rangers or even regular police officers or deputies assigned to parks now reporting to the large law enforcement agency. It is analogous to having a stovepipe of law enforcement in a park that is difficult to penetrate and interact with. The result is the land management and recreation objectives not being met.
 

gman65

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I see this going the way of the MTA police assimilation by LAPD. When that happened everything was good for a while. But it seems that LAPD's did not keep resources committed to the transit group. Once things got hot in other divisions, resources and priorities changed and moved elsewhere. I expect to see the same thing happen in this case.

Although, if your backup is 20 minutes away I guess it can't get much worse. I would expect better response within LAPD for something like that...
 

DPD1

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I think if they kept the current people in their specialized posts, it would be OK. But if they expect regular street cops to go running into places like Griffith Park... I don't see those people being too into that.

And I've heard the MRCA guys all over the area, including the river... and I've always found them interesting. That's a very specialized form of law enforcement. Unfortunately though, there is a very small number of them.
 

LAflyer

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And the dirty secret comes out -- Moving public safety officers from General Services into the LAPD would leave fewer to patrol the zoo, buildings and other city facilities.

About 40 transferred General Services officers would give up their assignments and become full-fledged LAPD officers, leaving 60 to continue to patrol city property.

Police plan would take officers from parks, libraries - latimes.com

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LAflyer

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I was forwarded a document as to how the proposed transfer would be structured.

Below is copy/paste of pertinent sections.
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The proposed consolidation will transition the OPS into the LAPD, meaning the OPS will become a new and unique division within the LAPD, renamed as the Security Services Division. A mix of police and civilian supervisors will be deployed to manage the proposed major components as set forth below.

• City Security Section - The City Security Section will be responsible for the operations of security posts throughout the City 24-hours per day. The Civic Center, the Parks Program, and fixed posts will be the responsibility of this Section.
• Special Services Section - The Special Services Section will be responsible for housing the four major self-contained components of Security Services Division. These include the Los Angeles Zoo, the Library system, the Convention Center, and the Bureau of Sanitation facilities.
• Administrative Section - The Administrative Section will be overseen by the Assistant Commanding Officer of the Security Services Division (Police Lieutenant). Within the Administrative Section will be the dispatch, training, complaint, contract services, technology, and special events units, as well as any other administrative functions.

POLICE OFFICERS:
The current police deployment and patrol will be modified from its current OPS format. The basis for the consolidation plan is for a portion of the police component to be absorbed within the LAPD and handled in a decentralized manner. The geographic responsibilities of the OPS, at a minimum, would be supported by LAPD Area Stations. First responder duties can be accomplished by LAPD patrol divisions. The separating of the law enforcement arm from the security function will diminish any chance of role confusion between the Area Stations and the Security Services Division.
By eliminating redundant functions and reconfiguring existing deployment methods, the LAPD will absorb the responsibilities of GSD sworn currently assigned to patrol duties into the existing patrol function which is supported by the Area Stations.

SECURITY OFFICERS:
Security Officers are the largest group within the OPS. Security Officers are responsible for staffing security posts throughout the Civic Center area and various other facilities throughout the City including:
• The Zoo which is staffed 24-hours a day;
• The Library system where Security Officers are deployed within six geographic zones and visit a minimum of five libraries per day, per zone;
• The Bureau of Sanitation's four wastewater treatment facilities;
• The Convention Center which is also staffed 24-hours per day; and
• The Parks system where Security Officers are responsible for patrolling approximately 90 parks throughout the City.

Providing security to the City's facilities is crucial to the OPS operation. It is anticipated that the current deployment of security personnel and resources dedicated to those personnel will remain relatively unchanged in a consolidation.

DISPATCH & COMMUNICATIONS:
The Communications Section is staffed by a Senior Communications Operator and Communications Information Representatives. The current OPS dispatch configuration will be evaluated for possible transition into the LAPD's Communications Division.
However, under the current OPS configuration, assigned personnel have security camera and alarm monitoring responsibilities in addition to dispatch duties. Should communications personnel continue to work in OPS Headquarters, they will be able to monitor alarms and cameras, but a link will need to be established to be able to tie a new radio frequency directly into the LAPD's system. Conversely, should the dispatch function be moved to the LAPD Metropolitan Dispatch Center, much of the alarm and camera function will need to be migrated over to the LAPD via hardware and software installation so related calls could continue to be processed.
Since current OPS personnel have not been through the training programs provided to current LAPD Communications Division employees, OPS personnel will only be able to work the Security Services Division frequency until such training is provided. Eventually, full integration of these employees may occur, but would not necessarily be required.
Currently, the OPS has Motorola XTS 5000 handheld radios that are programmed with LAPD frequencies which can be utilized should the consolidation take place. At this time, it is recommended that the dispatch function continue to operate from within OPS Headquarters. However, it is further recommended that a complete migration to the LAPD occur when fiscally and feasibly possible.

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DPD1

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Seems like the whole thing is a big... 'six of one, half dozen of the other' waste of time, which will probably cost more money in the end anyway.
 

LAflyer

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Done deal -

City Council on Tuesday voted to approve plans for LAPD to absorb 220 members of the General Services Office of Public Safety.

Consolidation is expected to occur as early as July 1st and fall under a yet to be created LAPD Security Services Division.
 
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