Police Force Is a Casualty of the Gulf War : Manpower: Loss of officers called to military duty and the need to police war demonstrations has created such a strain that detectives are being put back in uniform.

The San Diego Police Department, depleted in ranks by police officers called up to active duty in the Persian Gulf as well as by those needed to provide security at war protests, decided Tuesday to put about 30 detectives and support officers back into uniform and onto the streets.

Deputy Chief Manny Guaderrama, who heads field operations for the department, said the forces on city streets are dangerously low, and police have been pulled from their regular beats to staff war protests over the last three weeks.

“We already have a problem in the field responding to all the calls we get,” Guaderrama said. “Now that’s been aggravated by the calls for additional security at protests. It’s taken quite a toll.”

In addition to the protests, 18 police officers have been called to active duty in the Persian Gulf, according to Cmdr. Larry Gore, a department spokesman. Of the department’s 1,824 sworn officers, about half are dedicated to field operations, he said.

The 30 officers will come from several areas of the department, but none will be taken from high-priority units such as narcotics or homicide, Guaderrama said.

Nine will be investigators from units such as auto theft and forgery or other areas dealing with property crime. The rest will come from support divisions--such as public affairs, training units or police storefront operations in neighborhoods, he said.

San Diego police have shown up in force at war protests. At a Jan. 14 demonstration in front of the Federal Building on the eve of war at which 8,000 to 10,000 people appeared, more than 100 San Diego police officers were on duty.

Three nights later, when 3,000 protesters demonstrated at the Federal Building, the department dispatched 80 officers, Guaderrama said.

The department is expecting a mass protest Feb. 23, when a group supporting U.S. troops is expected to march at the Embarcadero while anti-war protesters demonstrate at Balboa Park. Guaderrama said he has heard that the two groups may converge downtown.

Guaderrama said he discovered during the first protest--when he asked some officers to work extra shifts on overtime--that he had a problem. At a recent staff meeting, the deputy chief asked for more manpower, and each commander was asked what he could afford to give up.

Police Chief Bob Burgreen made the final decision on staff reassignments.

“We had to do something quickly,” Guaderrama said. “We were canceling days off and having to pull people off manned beats. We figured we had to set aside an average of 30 officers full-time per week for demonstrations that were occurring and for other security measures, like answering bomb threats.”

The department has 67 beats in which uniformed officers must patrol. Some have two officers per beat; others have a single officer. Guaderrama said he feared that some of the beats soon would have nobody to cover them.

Most of the 30 officers who are being called back into the streets have been notified, Gore said. Plans for who will serve where will become final today, he said.

“These are temporary assignments, and these officers will fill the void until the demands on the field lessen,” Gore said. “We expect the length of assignments to be in relationship to the conflict in the Middle East. If the war is over quickly, they’ll return to their original assignment. It’s not a permanent transfer.”

Police administrators have long complained that the department is understaffed, citing figures that show the city has 1.6 officers per 1,000 residents based on its ratio of 1,824 officers for its 1.1 million residents. Nationwide averages call for a minimum of 2 or more officers per 1,000 residents. In fact, on-the-street police manpower is half that.

The department’s calls for service have steadily increased throughout the last few years. In 1989, police got 1.8 million calls, up from 1.7 million in 1988, 1.5 million in 1987 and 1.4 million in 1986.

“We have a primary obligation to respond to citizen calls for service, and everything else we do is geared to support that effort,” Gore said. “All of these people we’re calling on are police officers first and foremost. And patrol is the highest priority right now.”

Besides putting more officers in uniforms, Gore said the department is taking a hard look at what kind of service it is providing and whether reassignments should be made. But he said none of the moves will be “earth-shattering.”