Anti-gang plan faces key hurdles

But even as the plans are being drawn up, there are significant questions about whether the police personnel, jail beds and gang intervention programs exist to back up the effort, prompted by a 14% increase in gang-related crime.

Los Angeles Police Department officials said last week that finding enough street officers to make a difference in the hardest-hit communities may prove hard. Although the LAPD has the money to make more hires, the department fell 300 officers short of its hiring goal last year.

"That is the big question: Where will we get the officers?" said Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, who was promoted to head the South Bureau last year after working as the second-in-command of LAPD operations.

"We're going to have to pull people from everywhere: patrol, traffic

In the San Fernando Valley, where gang-related crimes surged 42% last year, LAPD sources said the department is preparing to shift dozens of officers into problem neighborhoods.

Expanding such efforts into other gang-infested areas is likely to require significantly more officers.

Chief William J. Bratton said he and the mayor intend to unveil a plan in two weeks to better use the department's current 9,400 uniformed officers to fight gangs. Bratton did not give specifics, but his top aides say patrol officers will be directed to take a more active role in gang suppression and intelligence gathering, expanding responsibility for duties traditionally handled by gang units.

Also under consideration is the deployment of strike forces to crime hot spots. Last year a similar approach used officers fresh from their first year of training to increase enforcement on skid row.

As the department struggles to hire about 1,000 additional officers whose positions are budgeted, Bratton said he supports a proposal by some City Council members to temporarily use money set aside for new hires to fund more overtime for existing officers.

Another pressing issue is what will happen to gang members after they are sentenced and enter the overcrowded county jail system.

The county jails have released more than 200,000 inmates early, most serving just 10% of their time, since mid-2002, when Sheriff Lee Baca stopped using thousands of jail beds amid budget shortfalls.