Council Delays Decision on LAPD’s Takeover of MTA Police Duties

After an hour of closed-door discussion, the Los Angeles City Council decided Wednesday to delay for another week deciding whether the LAPD should take over policing on the city’s buses and trains, something that was to have occurred July 1.

The eleventh-hour postponement comes amid new questions about the city’s legal liability if it rejects 43 officers currently on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s police force because the results of their extensive background checks failed to meet the Los Angeles Police Department’s standards.

“I think everybody’s really trying to be cautious,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who chairs the Public Safety Committee and has been the merger’s most outspoken critic. “We think it’s a good idea that LAPD take over transit policing, but do we think it’s a good idea to do it in this way?”

Originally proposed by the MTA as a way to get the transit agency out of the law enforcement business, the plan calls for the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to absorb the MTA officers, with the LAPD taking about 60% of them.

But the City Council insisted that each officer who wanted to transfer to the LAPD undergo a background investigation similar to those done on officers who apply for lateral transfers. Many of the 43 rejected MTA officers have threatened to sue the city if they are not accepted, citing a provision in the City Charter requiring that “all officers or employees” of a government agency that is merged into the city “become employees in a similar capacity.”

In an opinion issued late Tuesday, Deputy City Atty. Fred Merkin said he believes that the city has the right to individually screen applicants in a merger, but that the action could be open to a legal challenge.

“We must note that the language of [the charter] is amenable to more than one interpretation,” Merkin wrote. “Our conclusion, therefore, should not be free from doubt.”

Sources who attended the closed-door discussion said lawmakers concerned about liability suggested that the city scrap the merger concept and instead pursue a contract with the MTA that would allow the LAPD to select employees based on background investigations. Other council members suggested that the city offer the rejected officers employment in another, non-police capacity, sources said.

In his first full day on the job, LAPD Chief Bernard Parks attended the council session to lobby for the merger but ended up leading the call for a postponement so he and others would have more time to review the legal questions, sources said.

“I think what happened here is the chief of police was very sensitive to the fact that there are still some outstanding questions by members of the council,” said LAPD Cmdr. Art Lopez, who heads a task force on the merger. “He wanted them to feel comfortable that there are answers.”

Deputy Mayor Bill Violante, however, said he is confident that the plan on the table “is a good deal for the city of Los Angeles.”

“Every question that has been asked has been answered. Every problem that has been raised has been dealt with,” Violante said. “This is about better policing, better community service. That’s getting lost in this discussion because of people’s agendas.”