Filming in the city? LAPD wants a piece of the action

Retired LAPD officers, like Bob Wheeler at right, have watched over L.A. movie sets for decades. It's a good deal for the ex-cops, who make great money, and for film crews, who can keep production running at 12 to 16 hours at a stretch. Now comes a proposal by the LAPD to ditch the retirees and force film companies to use off-duty, active officers instead, Joel Rubin reports.

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.

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"They have not given this enough thought," said retired LAPD Sgt. Brett Papworth, a board member of the Motion Picture Officers Assn. "We understand how this industry works, and the industry trusts us to do our job just like they trust a stunt man to come in and do a stunt fall."

But they are hardly being left to fend for themselves. Hollywood studios are determined to keep them on the job.

Will active-duty LAPD officers be better enforcers on movie sets, or will the move just make it that much harder to film in L.A.? More in Joel's full story.

--Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[M Steger]

LAPD and the Mayor and always complaining that they do not have the necessary number of Police Officer to keep our street safe as it is, so now they what to have Off Duty Police work the movie sets. Why don't they have the off duty officer work overtime on keeping the city streets safe?