LAMC 52.34

Mo - Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are an important public private partnership being used throughout Los Angeles as an economic development tool to enhance business districts. BIDs are established by an action of the City Ccl in order to assist businesses, or the property owners, to initiate improvements and activities that benefit the newsletters, street banners maintenance services and private patrol services. Frequently, the BIDs adopt color themes to provide a unique identity for their area. As with any innovative effort, problems can arise when beginning implementing a program. For example, the Downtown Center BID has established a private patrol service and provided it with uniforms in the BIDs theme colors. Recently the Police Commission, which regulates private patrols, has put the Downtown Center BID and other BIDs on notice for failure to comply with its rules and regulations regarding private patrol services. Specifically, the Commission's rules require that private patrol service uniforms be grey in color. The notification also indicated that the Downtown Center BID needs to pay the City's permit fees. State law also regulates private patrols and sets mandatory fees, including those for licenses, firearms, batons, and insurance. Section 52.34 of the LAMC which regulates private security patrols and officers,, is intended to set forth guidelines for the Police Commission in its oversight of these State-regulated entities. The ordinance requires a City private patrol service permit and levies a "per officer" fee based on the City's cost incurred to exercise such oversight. The ordinance also authorizes the Police Commission to specify the type of uniform, equipment (including vehicles), badges and insignia that are used by any private patrol service or its agents and employees. The Commission's rules allow for waivers for its regulations. The Downtown Center BID states that the City's fees and requirements, in combination with those of the State's, are prohibitive given the BID's limited financial resources. They also indicate that the regulation of uniform color conflicts with their operational philosophies. The Commission has notified this BID that it will commence enforcement of the citation effective 4-1-99. As more BIDs are established, similar problems may arise between their initiatives and the specific details of the City's public safety rules and regulations. Those rules should be reviewed to see what modifications might be made to assist the BIDs in the achievement of their goals, while still allowing the City to provide the necessary required public safety oversight. An initial effort in assisting BIDs was a previous Ccl mo (Alatorre-Bernson CF 97-02341) that proposed that BIDs be exempted from police permit fees for supplemental security services provided by the BID. This motion is in the committee process pending a report from the CAO. THEREFORE MOVE that the City Ccl request the Police Commission with the assistance of the City Attorney, to report within 15 days regarding their requirements and enforcement activities under LAMC Section 52.34 Private Patrol Service Regulations, and how the rules can be modified to better coincide with the Mayor and Ccl's goals and objectives in creating BIDs citywide, while still maintaining guidelines that protect the public's and officer's safety. FURTHER MOVE that the City Ccl request the Police Commission to cease their enforcement against the City's Downtown Center BID and its private patrol service, and any other BIDs until this matter has been reviewed by the City Ccl. FURTHER MOVE that the CAO report back within 15 days on the previous Ccl mo (Alatorre-Bernson CF 97-2341) relative to the exemption of BIDs from police permit fees for supplemental security services provided by the BIDs. SEE ALSO 97-2341