City officials are considering whether to close four or more division jails and reassign staff in the wake of budget cuts.
Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Scott Kroeber said the Metropolitan Detention Center, due to open downtown next year, will replace the Metropolitan Jail Section at Parker Center, located next door. It will also house offices of the LAPD's Property Division.
The original plan, approved in late 2009, was to hire 100 detention officers for the new facility. Kroeber said that is no longer an option, given the city's current financial state.
"These options are not good options -- these are the least undesirable," Kroeber told a joint meeting of the City Council's Public Safety Committee and the Board of Police Commissioners.
Instead, he recommended closing four of the city's division jails and reassigning their staff to the MDC. That way, the number of new hires can be reduced to 44 if the city does not proceed with furloughs or 55 if the furloughs proceed.
Kroeger said such a plan, dubbed Option 1, would reduce the city's overall jail capacity by 17 percent.
Kroeger also presented Option 2, in which the Pacific Division jail would also be shut down. He said it would reduce overall jail capacity by 259 beds or 20 percent.
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Option 3 calls for shutting all seven of the city's division jails to divert staffing to the MDC. That would reduce overall jail capacity by 27 percent, Kroeber said.
LAPD Asst. Chief Michel Moore estimated that hiring 120 detention officers would cost about $12 million annually, while hiring 44 detention officers would cost just under $5 million.
Councilman Dennis Zine expressed concern that shutting down division jails would reduce efficiency because officers would be forced to spend a lot of time stuck in traffic to transport prisoners from one part of the city to another.
"We're going to be penny-wise and dollar foolish," he said.
LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said hiring detention officers was not part of the budget but added, "It's absolutely necessary or we'll have to use other kind of personnel to staff the jail."
The Metropolitan Jail Section at the aging Parker Center must be vacated by January 2012, because of building code issues, according to Farrell.
