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Loan Brings Jailers Back To Los Angeles Detention Center

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles trust fund loan is bringing furloughed jailers back to the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, allowing the return of dozens of patrol officers to street duty.

About 89 patrol officers had been reassigned to the jail earlier this month because of staffing shortages that kept the $84 million jailhouse mothballed for 18 months.

Councilman Greig Smith came up with the idea of lending the Police Department nearly $640,000 from a city trust fund. It allows suspension of cost-saving furloughs of about 315 jailers and means 27 of the 89 patrol officers can return to the field.

The Los Angeles Times says the loan money comes out of the Sunshine Canyon trust fund, which was created to pay for community-improvement projects around a Sylmar landfill.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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