LAPD Seeks to Spend $1 Million on Riot Gear : Police: Request comes amid worries that trials involving the King and Denny cases could spark new unrest.

The Los Angeles Police Department plans to purchase more than $1 million in new riot equipment--including rubber bullets and tear-gas bombs--as the city gears up for two criminal trials that some fear may lead to new civil unrest.

The Police Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to ask the City Council for approval to spend $1.03 million on a wide range of supplies and equipment. The new items would include bullhorns, riot helmets, face shields, television monitors and 10 police vans.

The money would come from funds seized during a police vice investigation into illegal interstate transportation of obscene materials.

Police officials were reluctant to say how badly the additional armament is needed, or even to say that they want the equipment soon because they expect civil unrest after the trials of the four police officers accused of beating Rodney G. King and the three men accused of attacking Reginald O. Denny.

But Capt. David Gascon, a Police Department spokesman, said Chief Willie L. Williams “considers these items as essential.”

“These are things that should be in our inventory now,” Gascon said. “These are very important items and we should have them now. The sooner we get them the better off we will be.”

Since Williams took over as police chief last summer, the LAPD has begun extensive riot-control training for its officers, hoping to overcome the sharp criticism police received after their slow response to the spring riots.

That unrest was touched off when four white officers were found not guilty on state charges of beating King, a black man. The officers are scheduled to stand trial Feb. 2 on federal charges in the King case. On March 15, three black men are set to be tried on charges of beating Denny, a white truck driver, during the riots.

Meanwhile, police officials said Tuesday that they hope to have a comprehensive civil disturbance response plan completed by Feb. 15. They also said that other riot-readiness measures are moving ahead, such as the development of special “tactical response teams” of officers who can move in quickly to riot flash points, make arrests and transport prisoners.

Also on Tuesday, the Police Commission released a preliminary report into allegations that officers unnecessarily beat members of a group of striking drywall construction workers.

The report stated that an investigation into the July 23 incident in Hollywood revealed no police misconduct, but added that allegations of abuse by individual officers are continuing to be examined by police officials.

But Jose L. DePaz, executive director of the California Immigrant Workers Assn., called the report a “whitewash.” He said police investigators ignored statements from a half dozen drywall workers who said they were victims of excessive force when police attempted to break up the demonstration near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and the Hollywood Freeway.

He said seven demonstrators were injured, including one who required hospitalization. “Not one of their statements is reflected in here,” DePaz said. “It’s all a regurgitation of their police reports.”

He also said Williams is being viewed as a “bogyman” to the Latino community, “second only to the INS.”

“Every time Latino workers organize, every time Latino students demonstrate, every time that it’s us, we feel the discrimination and violence and excessive arrest by the police,” he said.

But Police Commission President Jesse Brewer, speaking for the department, stressed that the report is only a preliminary review, and that the incident will be investigated further.