Booking van comes to LAPD Harbor Division in San Pedro

A Los Angeles Police Department booking van on Friday began transporting prisoners from the Harbor Division station in San Pedro to the 77th Division, relieving officers of the commute that took them off local streets at critical times.

“Today we aounce the rollout of the jail transport team, which will allow our officers to focus on patrolling, rather than having to transport detainees up and down the Harbor Freeway,” Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino said in a statement released Friday.

The van will be at the harbor station two days a week to start, but will soon expand to three days — Thursday, Friday and Saturday, typically the busiest days for arrests.

“This is a direct result of all the requests from the community,” said Buscaino spokesman Branimir Kvurtac.

A citizens rally followed by a Feb. 4 crime forum at the Waer Grand Theatre in San Pedro drew hundreds of residents demanding that the Harbor Division’s jail be opened. It has been closed since it was built due to persoel shortages but LAPD Police Chief Charlie Beck promised residents it would be opened within 36 months. A deputy mayor later said the aim will be to open the local jail in half that time.

The booking van is seen as an interim measure that will keep more officers patrolling local streets. Under current operations, suspects must be driven 15 miles north to be booked at the 77th Street station.

“This is a good first step that many in the community have asked for in recent months,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a written statement. “We expect it to save our officers valuable time and enable them to stay on patrol in the communities they serve — rather than driving long distances just to book a suspect.”

Along with the van, other interim measures discussed at the crime forum included a possible partial opening of the Harbor Division jail at some point — the section designed for male inmates, for example, since men make up most of the custody cases — as officials work on a plan to open the entire facility that can hold 63 people.

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