L.A. Acts on Heels of Federal Warnings

Acting on warnings from Washington about new terrorist threats, Los Angeles authorities on Wednesday took several steps to increase security, issuing guidelines to apartment house owners and closing four streets near Los Angeles International Airport.

The Los Angeles Police Department scheduled a briefing for emergency workers today on how to handle suicide bombings. Three police and sheriff’s officers who went to Israel for 10 days of training with the Israeli national police will discuss precautions against such bombings.

Meanwhile, Noel Cunningham, chief of the Los Angeles Harbor Police, announced new security measures at the port that will affect both small craft and giant container ships.

Previous warnings from Washington of possible terrorist attacks have been vague, leaving local officials unable to do anything beyond maintaining already heightened security measures. In recent days, however, more specific information has been provided by federal officials.

On Monday, for example, FBI Director Robert Mueller said it is inevitable that suicide bombers will kill Americans on U.S. soil. Federal officials said they believe terrorists could be renting apartments with the intent of blowing up buildings from within.

The guidelines released by the LAPD include the following warnings to apartment owners and managers on how to spot possible terrorists:

* Be cautious of prospective tenants with little or no rental history.

* Be cautious of those who “show undue concern for renting an apartment that cannot be seen by other homes or apartments.”

* Observe new tenants when they move in to see if they are bringing in any “unusual items” such as machinery, chemical drums, electrical wiring or “boxes carried with extreme caution.”

* Watch for tenants who use an apartment in unusual ways, rarely occupy the unit or overload the unit with more people than allowed on the rental agreement.

* Watch for unusual digging or trenching near ground-floor apartment units.

Police stress that the guidelines are purely advisory. Managers are not required to follow them.

Moreover, LAPD spokesman Sgt. John Pasquariello said police do not intend to encourage housing discrimination. “We’re hoping people will exercise good judgment and not base renting decisions only on a person looking like they’re of Middle Eastern descent,” he said. “The law is the law, and it’s not going to change as far as discrimination is concerned.”

Spokesmen for organizations representing tenants and apartment owners nonetheless expressed uneasiness.

“I don’t want to get our members unduly paranoid that any dark-skinned person from the Middle East is a terrorist,” said Charles Isham of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, which represents building owners. “On the other hand, I’d hate to have one of our buildings go up at 2 in the morning.”

Isham said his organization will caution members to be careful but nondiscriminatory. “You’ve got to be cognizant of the fair housing law,” he said. “You can’t engage in racial profiling.”

Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, said the tenants rights group supports measures that protect residents.

But “this directive seems like LAPD is encouraging landlords to establish nothing less than a Big Brother atmosphere that most surely will impact low-income tenants, tenants of color and tenants of different ethnic backgrounds,” he said.

“It seems to give landlords a license to intimidate, harass and discriminate against tenants.”

The apartment guidelines will also be adapted by the L.A. Harbor Police and circulated among owners of 8,000 small boats. Harbor Police Chief Cunningham also said that inspections of container ships entering the harbor will be stepped up. New container seals are being developed to avert smuggling of weapons of mass destruction into the area, he said.

Cunningham spoke from Oakland, where he was attending a West Coast meeting on port protection.

“We’ve been attempting to educate ourselves on suicide bombings,” he said. “We are working with industry, attempting to develop inspection sites and container seals. We’re working overtime on that, and we hope to start a pilot program on that shortly.”

Meanwhile, the unanimous council action closing the streets near LAX was taken at the LAPD’s request.

Officials called it part of an overall reevaluation of security at the airport and said it was not prompted by a specific threat.

The streets ordered closed were Sandpiper Street between Pershing Drive and Vista del Mar, which curves over a bluff, placing anyone there less than 1,000 feet beneath jets landing on or taking off from LAX’s northernmost runway; Georgetown Avenue, McClean Way and a stretch of Northside Parkway between Lincoln Boulevard and Westchester Parkway--all because they sit within a short distance of a runway.

The closures are to last 18 months, but may become permanent.

The city has bought up houses in the area to deal with complaints about airport noise.

The city’s warning to apartment owners is available at www .updatela.com.

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Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.