Ventura County Spent $223,491 on Services for Officers’ Trial

Ventura County spent $223,491 to provide police protection and other services for the trial of four Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney G. King, officials said Thursday.

Los Angeles County officials said they will reimburse Ventura County for its costs in staging the trial, which was moved to Simi Valley because of pretrial publicity in Los Angeles.

But Los Angeles County officials said they will probably not reimburse Simi Valley the $129,000 that city officials say was spent on increased police services in the weeks after the verdicts.

The biggest chunk of Ventura County’s costs was $125,500 spent on sheriff’s deputies assigned to the trial, said Vince Ordonez Jr., assistant court executive officer.

The county’s other costs include charges for installing extra telephone lines in the courthouse, hiring a private security firm to patrol the building around the clock during the trial, and improving the courthouse alarm system.

“We really went out of our way for them,” Ordonez said. “We were assured all of our costs would be covered.”

But the city of Simi Valley received no such assurances that Los Angeles County would reimburse it for trial-related costs.

Simi Valley officials said the city’s expenses began when the trial ended April 29 in not guilty verdicts involving all but one charge.

The city has had to pay police officers for 2,375 hours of overtime for increased protection during the disturbances that followed the verdicts, and for watching over several demonstrations afterward.

Simi Valley officials are considering billing Los Angeles County for some of those police costs.

Los Angeles County officials said they probably will not pay any money to the city.

State law does not provide a mechanism for Los Angeles County to repay a city, said Clemon Brown, a financial management analyst for Los Angeles County Superior Court.