With more police officers doing civilian office work instead of patrolling the streets, Los Angeles City Council members Tuesday asked for a study of the Police Department's personnel deployment.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl called for the report saying he was "tired of trying to explain to people why we have able-bodied officers, who have been specially trained, doing the work a civilian could do at much less cost.

"We need to have our officers out on the streets, not cleaning up some office," Rosendahl said, citing a report that 154 officers are doing the work of 120 civilians on a rotating basis.

The report said 28 of the officers are on temporary light duty, 33 are on permanent light duty and the remaining 93 are performing a variety of clerical duties rather than doing other police work. Also, 90 other officers will be assigned as jailers when the new downtown jail opens in the next month or two.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who campaigned five years ago with a goal of a 10,000-officer police force, has kept the department at 9,963 officers for the past two years, with the city only hiring officers to replace those who leave.

Aides said he would not comment on the City Council request.

But the reassignment of officers to jobs performed by civilians has increased over the last two years as the city has grappled with hundreds of millions of dollars of shortfalls.

Councilman Tony Cardenas also introduced a proposal to develop a Public Safety Improvement Plan for his district that asks the LAPD to report in 90 days on the crime rate in six specific areas: downtown Van Nuys, Panorama City business district, San Fernando Road, Sepulveda Corridor and the Van Nuys Airport Industrial Core.

"The purpose is to develop a mechanism for city departments to identify public safety gaps in policies services and resource allocation," Cardenas said.

Civilian workers have been complaining for the past two years that officers are taking over their jobs - particularly with the plans to open the Metropolitan Detention Center using officers as jailers.

Councilman Greig Smith said he raised the issue with Police Chief Charlie Beck.

"What he told me is we need to put all options on the table and make a decision," Smith said. "If we are serious about putting more officers on the street, we need to hire more civilians and pay more overtime to our police."

Aides to Beck said he could not comment until he meets with council members.