Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna has pushed back against a concept in which LA Metro would start its own in-house police department, citing his concerns over high start-up costs, finding qualified officers, and decreasing law enforcement services on the Metro system.
The issues raised by Luna were brought out on Monday, Nov. 13 at a meeting of Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC). The committee moved to study the proposal by establishing ad-hoc committees on the issue. Luna’s critique is outlined in an eight-page letter sent to Metro dated Oct. 17, obtained by this newspaper on Thursday, Nov. 16.
Luna’s analysis
The L.A. County sheriff picked apart a feasibility study presented to the board in June for creating an in-house police department that would replace the three law enforcement agencies now patrolling the transit system: Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Long Beach Police Department.
Luna wrote that the study severely underestimated the costs of starting and maintaining an in-house police department. The study said the new department would consist of 290 field officers at a cost of $135.4 million, less than the $173 million cost of the current three law enforcement contracts.
But Luna wrote that the estimated total yearly cost for an in-house police department contained in the study did not account for $170.5 million in start-up costs, pensions and facilities — such as evidence lockers and holding cells. He put the cost at $227.5 million annually, saying the cost savings from an in-house police department are nonexistent.
Over five years, the cost would be $1.43 billion, compared to about $1 billion to continue the current program, or $433 million more, Luna wrote.
“It appears that budget, staffing, training, liability costs, pension costs and operational concerns were not completely addressed, and overall costs were underestimated in the study provided to the Board,” Luna…
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