Hoping to get the new Metropolitan Detention Center up and running by the end of January, a city panel signed off Monday on a plan to reassign 83 LAPD officers to work as jailers.

While LAPD brass and city officials oppose the idea of pulling officers off the streets to work as jailers, they say it's the only option because a hiring freeze has made it impossible to fill vacancies with civilian employees.

"Other options are even worse," said City Councilman Greig Smith, an LAPD reserve officer who chairs the Public Safety Committee.

The committee signed off on the LAPD plan that would take new police officers off the streets to work in the jail for six-month periods.

The full City Council is expected to vote on the plan Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Police Department is in the process of moving from the Parker Center detention facility to the Metropolitan Center, which was completed 18 months ago but has been unable to open because of staffing shortages.

Deputy Police Chief Michel Moore said keeping the Parker Center facility open jeopardizes the safety of officers, jailers and detainees. Built in 1955, the Parker Center jail is smaller and outdated, housing 440 detainees.

The new center, built at a cost of $84 million, has space for 512 detainees and is designed to meet the needs of a modern police force, in addition to having much more space.

The city has 315 civilian jailers, but because of the need to staff the facility around the clock, officials say the additional police presence is needed to maintain safety.

Moore said the department hopes to have prisoners transferred to the new facility next to Parker Center by Jan. 30. It already has begun moving the property division and jail administration sections to the building.

Moore said the new staff plan will take beginning police officers after they have served a year in the field and then assign them to jail duty for six months before they are returned to the field.

"This is what we did years ago," Moore said. "I went through it. We feel six months is a good period. During that time, the department will provide ongoing training to make sure the skill sets remain relevant and fresh."

Also, Moore said the department was concerned that serving longer than six months could affect the attitude of the young officers in their dealings with the public.

The city unions have protested the plan, saying it would be more cost effective for the city to have civilians doing the jobs so officers can be on patrol.

Councilman Dennis Zine raised concerns over the closure of other jails around the city and whether it would affect police response time to calls by having officers tied up with the transfer of the people they arrest.

Moore said the department has worked out a program to deal with the transfer and is looking at creating a shuttle-type service if large numbers of people are arrested.