Police Academy

Following sometimes heated testimony, the Los Angeles City Council has delayed until Friday a decision on whether to locate the future police academy at a former electronics firm in Westchester instead of at a planned site in Sylmar. While proponents of the purchase of the 13.

Surprising the two "suspects" in a dark room, Maria Baber-Smith tried her best to sound as if she were wearing a badge and barked, "Up against the wall." "Spread 'em," she added, unable to hold back a giggle. Safe within the walls of the Pasadena Police Department headquarters, she and two police officers were acting out a scene for her fellow students at the Citizens Police Academy.

A group planning a fund-raiser for Laurence M. Powell complained Wednesday that pressure from City Hall caused the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club to cancel the "welcome home" event for the officers convicted in the beating of Rodney G. King. "We think this is outrageous that [city officials are] depriving us of our constitutional rights," said Richard Delgaudio, president of a group called the Legal Affairs Council, backing the Powell banquet.

The Los Angeles City Council put a near-certain end to plans for a police academy in Sylmar on Tuesday when it voted instead to purchase an empty electronics plant in Westchester for the new training facility. In a closed-door meeting, the council agreed to pay $13 million for the 13.8-acre former Hewlett-Packard facility near the San Diego Freeway and Manchester Boulevard. Hewlett-Packard negotiators have accepted the offer.

After years of searching for a site to build a new Police Academy, city officials have abruptly shifted gears and are prepared to pull the plug on a proposed Sylmar location in favor of a 13.8-acre site in Westchester. The move will save the city $50 million and speed up Mayor Richard Riordan's expansion plans for the Los Angeles Police Department, officials say.

Violence erupted across northern Iraq on Saturday, as a car bomb killed at least 20 people in front of a police academy and a U.S. helicopter was shot down during an attack on a suspected militant hide-out. The helicopter's two crew members were injured when the craft crashed in Tall Afar, a town near the Syrian border, the military said. Both were recovered during a rescue operation in which U.S. troops killed two insurgents, the military said.

Reiterating its desire to boost the ranks of women police officers, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday set an annual female hiring goal of 43% and bolstered its recruitment campaign. The city is under a 1981 federal consent decree to increase women's representation to at least 20%. Women now make up about 14% of the force and legislators view the Los Angeles Police Department expansion pushed by Mayor Richard Riordan as an ideal opportunity to hire more women.

The Los Angeles City Council dealt a serious blow to plans to build a new police academy in Sylmar when it voted Friday to go after an empty electronics plant in Westchester for the training facility. The vote, which was taken behind closed doors, gives city and police officials the authority to enter the bidding war for the 13.8-acre former Hewlett-Packard facility near the San Diego Freeway and Manchester Boulevard.

It had the hallmarks of a typical graduation ceremony -- awards, speeches and hordes of excited families. But these graduates were not in caps and gowns. They wore blue uniforms, white gloves and holstered guns. And from my vantage point on the Police Academy lawn, the 44 cadets who graduated into the Los Angeles Police Department on Friday looked impressively tough -- and impossibly young.

The Los Angeles Police Department will open a new police academy next month in the San Fernando Valley, but graduates won't be allowed to carry guns or wear badges. They will, however, be armed with new insights about how real police officers do their jobs. In yet another push toward community-based policing, 80 residents from throughout the Valley will take part in a civilian police academy, consisting of 30 hours of training on the use of force, traffic procedures and arrests.