Leaders Agree on Gangs but Split on Police Deployment

Business and civil rights leaders representing Los Angeles’ wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods tried Friday to present a united front against the rising toll of gang violence, but were divided over the city’s police deployment practices.

Reacting to a gathering storm over the Los Angeles Police Department’s handling of events after the gang-related slaying of Karen Toshima in Westwood a week ago, officials of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the Los Angeles West Chamber of Commerce said they will try to “develop a comprehensive plan to end the citywide problem of gang violence.”

While agreeing on the need to “end the perception of divided camps” within the city, Raymond L. Johnson Jr., president of the local NAACP branch, and Dori Pye, the chamber president, could not agree on specific strategies to allocate police personnel throughout the city.

Johnson said that his organization would sue the city and the Police Department if there is not a swift restructuring of the formula that the department uses to deploy its 7,350 officers.

South-Central Los Angeles activists have criticized the department’s “uniformed deployment formula” for giving inflated weight to affluent areas with high property crime rates and not enough to areas with high violent crime rates.

“We are meeting with city officials, but in the event that we are not able to resolve our differences, we will file suit,” Johnson said at the joint news conference.

Pye, however, said her organization will not back such an court action.

The two civic leaders also differed in their general support for the Police Department. Pye gave Police Chief Daryl F. Gates enthusiastic support, but Johnson was more critical. And Johnson showed little interest in Pye’s call for another ballot initiative to fund more police hiring. Two previous measures, which would finance new hires by added taxes, were defeated at the polls by city voters.

The City Council is expected to vote next Tuesday on a proposal by Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky to hire an additional 150 police officers by July.

In Westwood, merchants expressed disappointment with Yaroslavsky’s decision Thursday to withdraw a council request for a $25,000 reward to apprehend Karen Toshima’s killer.

“We regret that the issue became so politicized,” said Scott Regberg, president of the Westwood Village Merchants Assn.

Regberg said the merchants group will offer at least $10,000 as a private reward for crucial information in the murder case.