HUD Says County Paid Needlessly for Patrols

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Long Beach Police departments “unnecessarily” charged the county more than $4.3 million for special protection that was never provided to three housing projects for the poor, according to a Sept. 19 audit recently released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development .

For five years, the county Housing Authority needlessly paid for “basic law enforcement service which it should have gotten at no cost,” according to the audit.

HUD wants Long Beach to pay back the $1.4 million the city’s police charged to provide protection to the Carmelitos Housing Project. The agency wants the Sheriff’s Department to reimburse the county for the $2.9 million paid for protection to Nueva Maravilla Housing Project in East L.A. and Harbor Hills Housing Project in Lomita. But police and sheriff’s officials argue that the protection provided was special--with five to nine hours a day of patrols plus undercover officers and community meetings. They are appealing the audit.