O.C. to Move Quickly if Verdict Sparks Violence : King trial: Police and fire officials are making contingency plans to handle any trouble here or in L.A.

By ERIC YOUNG

April 9, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Police and fire officials throughout Orange County are poised to mobilize immediately on two fronts--in Los Angeles and here in Orange County--should trouble break out after the verdicts in the Rodney G. King civil rights trial.

The contingency plans, which could involve scores of emergency workers, mark a concerted effort to avoid a repeat of last year, when police departments here and in Los Angeles were surprised by the explosion of violence after the first trial, in which four Los Angeles police officers were found not guilty of beating King.

Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Helton said Thursday that “all agencies are more prepared now then they were during the first trial in L.A. . . . everybody has a plan.”

Police and fire department officials declined to say how many people could be sent to Los Angeles, but last year an estimated 350 officers and 200 firefighters from various Orange County agencies went, beginning on the second day of the deadly disturbances.

Such a massive manpower response has a large price tag.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, for example, sent about 80 deputies at a cost of about $461,000, said Assistant Orange County Sheriff Dennis LaDucer, who is helping coordinate plans in Orange County.

With the King trial in its last phase before jury deliberations, police in cities such as Buena Park are expected to increase local patrols as early as Saturday.

The planning also underscores a willingness to respond to a call for help from Los Angeles. Last year, the only Orange County official who refused to send personnel to the riot-torn streets of Los Angeles, Westminster Fire Chief D’Wayne Scott, later became a target of criticism for that decision. He later was fired, in part for his refusal to send firefighters to Los Angeles. He defended that move, saying he feared for their safety.

Orange County law enforcement authorities on Thursday insisted that they can offer aid to Los Angeles agencies without jeopardizing Orange County residents.

“No one is going to take their patrol cars off the street and leave only one,” LaDucer said. , “You will have the same level of protection.”

This morning, an exercise involving the Sheriff’s Department and various Orange County police departments will begin with a simulated crisis call from Los Angeles. Organizers will call police departments as needed, depending on the nature of the “emergency.”

LaDucer said the practice will help officials determine how long it will take to assemble a team of officers and move them to any flash points of violence in Los Angeles County.

As for when the verdict is in fact read, authorities said, dozens of firefighters have orders to gather immediately at an undisclosed area in the county to respond to any emergencies in Orange County or elsewhere. The firefighters, who will be outfitted with bulletproof vests should they be sent to Los Angeles, have undergone training in how to spot when a crowd could turn violent and how, with a police escort, to quickly put out a fire and move right ahead to the next incident.

“It used to be that firemen did not have to worry about anything but a building falling or getting burned, but it seems society has changed,” said Capt. Craig Campbell of the Westminster Fire Department about the shooting of two Los Angeles firefighters during last year’s riots. “Now we’re having to change our training and policies.”

In addition, Orange County police departments, including La Palma, Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa, plan to increase the number of officers on patrol once the verdict is announced.

“We’ll have a higher profile at the time of the verdict for about 24 hours and then go from there,” La Palma Police Chief David Barr said. Barr said he plans to pull detectives from the cases they are investigating and assign them temporarily to patrol.

“I’m not sure the media has been real responsible in some of their reporting, and a lot of citizens are very concerned as well as the business community,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen; no one does.”

In Buena Park, the department plans to bring in reserve officers this weekend, Sgt. Terry Branum said. The increased personnel “keeps more people free to respond to other incidents. . . . We will do it through the weekend and see what progresses,” Branum said.

Other cities are taking a wait-and-see stance. In Newport Beach, for example, “the response depends on what happens in L.A.,” Sgt. Andy Gonis said. “If there appears there is an increased potential for problems, then there will be an increased response.”

Santa Ana chose to maintain the same level of patrols to avoid sending a message that could frighten residents, Helton said.

“There is no need on our part for a show of force unless there is some sort of problem. We don’t want to create any sense of panic or that there is a problem when there is none,” Helton said. “For us to do that would probably send the wrong message.”