Cost of sending more than 300 L.A. deputies to Obama inauguration raises ire

What's a cross-country plane trip to help out a friend?

If you're the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, county officials said today, it's an estimated $1.6-million proposition. Police in Washington have asked for more than 340 L.A. County sheriff's deputies to make the trip East to assist them during next month's inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

The plan to send deputies has irritated Los Angeles County supervisors, who have questioned why the police in D.C. haven't turned to departments closer to home. They are also raising concerns about exactly how much of the out-of-pocket expenses and salary will be reimbursed. A report presented today at the Board of Supervisors meeting estimated that only about $630,000 of the cost would be recouped.

"The L.A. County taxpayers never voted on donating $1 million in police to the president-elect’s inauguration,” said Joel Bellman, spokesman for Supervisor Zev Yarovslavsky.

Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said today that although D.C. police have requested hundreds of deputies, they so far have offered to pay for only 40. Whitmore said sheriff's officials are in negotiations with D.C. police and inaugural committee officials and have let them know that deputies will be made available only if the department is repaid.

He said the sheriff is willing to spend about $81,000 on cold-weather gear that would be needed by those making the trip, because it can be used during winter by deputies working in cold areas of the county.

--Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Richard Winton

Hennessy-Fiske and Winton will have a full report on this story soon.

Comments

[Pete]

Obama has plent of cash from the Chicago mob connections

[HR Waltner]

How many millions is going to cost us taxpayers for this 3-day train trip Obama and his clan are going to take on the way to Washington D.C. for the big event? How many Police, Fire, Ambulance personnel will be taken away from their iimportant duties for this fiasco? The whole thing just makes me sick!

[PAG]

Obama needs to know that in the "real world" there truly are cities and states having hard times. He needs to call on his Chiago mofia to come up with more money for his protection. Or, hey, Soros can foot this bill - his wallet proved to be bottomless when he bought the election!

[Melatonin]

Prince George's county cops would be a bad idea to assist. They enjoy shooting black folk. DC cops and politicians are worried they may shoot Obama. There are plenty other cops in Maryland and Virginia that don't really do much, except busting kids for smoking cigarettes

[BayKid]

Why does he need L.A. Cops? I'm sure there are more than enough corrupt cops in Price George's County without needing to import our guys across the continent..

[Hugh]

A lot of comments, some are knowledgeable, some not! The election is over, so let us remove the politics from the discussion; Obama is the President - Elect. As a united nation, the State of California should participate; we have sent our officers out of the state to help with disasters, so why not send them to assist in the Inauguration. The Deputies are not there to protect the President; they would be used for orderly crowd control. As for the cost, I agree it should be paid by D.C. and not L.A. County. In addition to the L.A. County personnel, they will use large units from all of the surrounding large departments. Federal Law allows any On Duty Peace Officer to carry a weapon in any state and D.C.. Thus, L.A. County Sheriff's can legally be used in D.C. Tactically, and for security reasons, I can see why they would prefer to use a few large units, under one command instead of hundreds of small units from hundreds of small surrounding cities. On the positive side, it would be a great training aide; where the east and west coast agencies can work together and learn from each other. As for the military they can only be used in a national emergency and should not be used for crowd control. Do you want to send this type of political message around the world, “Troops required in the Capital of the United States to maintain order?” A two or three-day event will not be a man power drain on the resources of the 10,000 man department. However, it is a drain to maintain a huge jail system year after year, so yes the inmates do get out early! “D.C. Safe!” Not really, it is known for the highest homicide rate in the U.S.

[Bea Zahn]

This is totally out of line!!!! How dare Washington make a request like this and not pay 100% of the cost. In the mean time, what happens to the areas those officers cover day to day???
There are MANY cold weather States where the officers already have the warm weather gear. My Son is a Detective in Illinois and is good to go when we hit the miserable time of year.
How many other states were asked to do the same??
Do the Sheriff's, Policemen, Police women, any part of the people that guard us here at home ever get recognition???? Should be a monument to every one in every state. My input from Indiana

[Russ Holmes]

Baca is a politician. He has been one all the years that I have been in and around L.A. law enforcement. Send him, maybe we will ge lucky and he will stay.

[Dan LaSarge]

President-Elect Barack Hussien Obama has more than $400 million in money raised through his secret fund raising schemes. He can afford to hire, train, equip and provide transportation for his own police force that could number in the thousands. If he's worried about his safety and wants highly trained security forces he should demand that President George W. Bush remove members of the armed forces now serving in Iraq. After all Obama shouted loudly during his campaign that Iraq troops could better serve the USA by coming home and serving the American people. Our forces in Iraq are battle hardened, highly trained at dealing with urban terrorists, fully equipped for cold weather and dedicated to serving their Commander-In-Chief.

[Ron]

I don't think we should send any of our Law Enforcement personnel. It seems to me that back there (Washington DC) there is an issue as to whether or not our troops could even carry their firearms in that jurisdiction.

Maybe they wouldn't need their guns............Washington DC is a pretty safe place isn't it?.............smirk.

[Phil]

Are you kidding? We release inmates every day after serving a fraction of their sentence, because we don't have the deputies to staff the jails. Yet we're going to send 340 deputies without even getting the money up front? Can you say Homeland Security Post for Baca? Give me a break...

[Darrin Spang]

Even IF they are willing to pay for it (which they aren't) we should definitely NOT send 340 deputies to Washington DC. Who is minding the shop back here at home? Why can't they get officers from the 1000 police agencies within a 100 mile radius of DC? This is absolutely absurd. Baca... JUST SAY NO.

[Computer_Forensics_Expert]

With $750 million raised with campaign contributions, I am sure that the Obama Campaign can spare "a few" bucks.

[DoWhat]

There are plenty of State troopers or Sherrif deputies in the Maryland-Virgina-Delaware area who being used to January weather in the DC area, could be used for this purpose. It's a waste of CA tax payers money

[doug]

Obama has a $30 mil campaign surplus. How about he uses that money instead of asking for handouts from a state that cannot afford it and a sheriff dept that is always crying they need more money?

[Sherman Tank]

What planet are these elected officials on? Why do we keep electing morons to represent us? Wake up L.A.! Typical for Obama, looks like its gonna be one long expensive party time.

[Steve]

What this sounds like is BACA trying to get his face on TV once again. PLEASE....you are a county sheriff HERE...not a FED or some east coast cop. We have to hold this guys accountable and keep them home. If you want to be a FED then go that route. We are paying for deputies to guard the inmates and patrol the street. Time to learn your role BACA.

[Greg]

What, DC Police can't assault peaceful protesters without LA's help?

[Stacy A.]

Of course, it's absurd to send 340 deputies.... to do what? write parking tickets? The President -elect has the Secret Service to guard him, and the entire military at his disposal. The Dictrict of Columbia has a police force that can work overtime, and neighboring counties in Maryland and Virginia could probably provide any other needed officers. Our sheriff is a darling to volunteer 340 deputies, but it would be nice to also know how many officers LAPD is sending, and how many CHP officers Governor Schwartzenegger is airlifting to Washington, before L.A. County "answers the call" to send in our cavalry.

[john]

Obama is worth every penny, It we can take care of all of this anchor baby's . We should protect the greatest leader ever to come to power i hope.

[Janet]

First of all does the SHERIFFS have that many 340 deputies to take out of the LA County for this? LAPD is having to sacrifice officers from different areas to fill two new police stations yet the Sheriffs are being sent to DC. Dumb Baca better say NO. Take the law enforcement agencies from Boston, New York etc. why LA??? The Sheriff can't even take care of the inmates at the LA county how in the hell could they expect to take care of security of Obama

[Don]

This is a complete waste and looks like a taxpayer financed vacation. Washington DC has frequent large events and a presidential inauguration every four years and seems to have no problem handling it. It is also a large metro area with nearby metro areas (Baltimore, Richmond, Philadelphia, even NYC) so they should have no problem getting sufficient resources if they can't handle it. This is typical of the self serving waste that is causing our state and national financial problems. Our elected officials need to have the same sort of financial responsibility they demand in the private sector.

[Jane Doe]

Obama has proven to be "the great" fundraiser - let him use his skills to
get the money to pay for his protection

[Rick]

I wonder who they are going to lay off to pay for this junket? The county budgets are very tight and there isn't any help coming from the state to pay for this trip. With no new money you have to cut the budget and the easiest place to cut is personnel. Perhaps they are going to use Homeland Security funds to pay for this or the new administration has promised to pay for the trip. Doubt it. It's just something that struggling taxpayers will have to bear.

[sharongriffing]

Our Gov, mayor of LA and others are asking for money to run our state/cities... Can we afford to spend $1.6 million for this? Ridiculous.

[Ricardo]

Send the entire Sheriff's Department. No sacrifice is too great to pay tribute to Dear Leader and provide protection for the members of his cult.

[Karl in Burbank]

If Obama wants deputies, he can pay for them!

[kristin]

Why can't they get 340 police officers from agencies on the East Coast? It would be a lot cheaper--they already have cold weather gear, and they can take the train.

[giley1]

Just remember the lack of response when government in California tried to ge the Feds to get re-inbursed for illegal immigration cost to the state.

[pitbullstew]

I think the niotion is a very good way to 'cross'train' local authorities with the Fed, and this instance, executive detail?
Here we have a very large event of quite large dimension and Los Angeles should be a part of it.