The star-struck gawkers, paparazzi and businessmen walking by a big-budget film set on Broadway in downtown Thursday could be forgiven for thinking that Bill Todd was a real Los Angeles police officer.
He did, after all, shut down a lane of traffic to make room for the huge trailers and production rigs -- much to the annoyance of drivers. And then there was the matter of the pistol hanging from his hip and the Los Angeles Police Department badge clipped to the LAPD uniform.
But look closely at the 61-year-old bear of a man, leaning against an official-looking motorcycle: The sergeant's stripes on each arm had been ripped off, leaving a faint outline. The bike had no blue emergency lights. On the top edge of the badge, in tiny letters, read "RETIRED."
Todd is one of a long line of ex-LAPD officers who, for decades, have been mainstays on film sets in Los Angeles, directing traffic, escorting car chases and, in general, keeping the city's fantasy world separate from reality. But amid growing concern by residents and LAPD officials that the retired officers enjoy too cozy of a relationship with the Hollywood studios that pay them and are being too lax in enforcing filming permits, a battle over possible changes to the old way of doing things is brewing.
"We do have concerns -- that these guys are just laying around on their bikes, wearing baseball caps, and haven't worked for LAPD for years. People don't know they are retired and don't work for us, but work for the film industry," said LAPD Cmdr. Bill Fierro. "It's a relationship we are looking at and saying, 'What is going on here?' "
Los Angeles police officials, seeking to increase their oversight of film sets, are reviewing the long-standing practice and considering a host of changes, Fierro said. The most dramatic idea is to retire the retired cops and require film crews to hire off-duty, active officers instead. It is part of a larger LAPD proposal under consideration to establish a contract service division that would give the department control over use of off-duty officers at major sporting and other events.
Such talk has angered Todd -- who estimates that he makes $100,000 a year working on film sets -- and the other 150-odd retired cops who have the required LAPD-issued permits to assist movie and TV productions.
