Los Angeles: On Tuesday, February 11, 2003, the Los Angeles Police Commission, while approving and applauding Chief of Police William J. Bratton’s new organizational blueprint for the Los Angeles Police Department, cautioned that they wanted to conduct further review before authoring increased funding for this fiscal year and the next. The Department’s proposed Reorganization Cost Analysis, presented to the Commission, seeks a hike in funding by about $1 million for the remaining months of this fiscal year, which ends June 30^th, and a projected $3.9 million for fiscal year 2003-2004.

The reorganization encompasses the creation of 177 positions in the Department, 158 sworn and 19 civilian positions. The new positions will be filled from existing resources within the Department.

Under the new plan, the Department’s activities will be classified under three major functions; Operations, Support Services and Administrative Services. Assistant Chief James McDonnell will be in charge of Operations, Deputy Chief George Gascon and Deputy Chief Sharon Papa will each be promoted to Assistant Chief and will head Support Services and Administrative Services, respectively.

A new Special Operations Bureau, headed by Deputy Chief Michael Hillmann, will oversee transit policing, air operations and gang issues. Other new bureaus include Consent Decree Bureau, headed by former Los Angeles Police Commission President Gerald Chaleff, and the Homeland Security Bureau headed by Mr. John Miller.

The new organizational chart and the proposed executive summary of cost analysis are available for members of the media, at the Department’s Media Relations Section.

This media advisory was prepared by Public Information Officer Jason Lee, Media Relations Section, 213-485-3586.