The city will free up 27 police officers to patrol the streets by borrowing funds intended to help the community near the Sunshine Canyon landfill, under a plan approved Tuesday by the City Council.

The plan by Councilman Greig Smith calls for keeping a group of 27 civilians working through June 30 at the new Metropolitan Detention Center, relieving sworn officers from their assignment as jailers.

The city will borrow $639,706 from the Sunshine Canyon Community Amenities Fund to free up the civilian jailers, with plans to repay the money in two years at no interest.

The Sunshine Canyon fund is used to provide relief to northeast San Fernando Valley neighborhoods from some of the impacts of living next to a landfill, but officials said those funds had not been allocated for any particular program.

"During this budget crisis, public safety must remain the city's top priority," said Smith, who represents the area around the landfill and chairs the council's Public Safety Committee.

"Thanks to our police, L.A.'s crime rates are at historic lows, so we need to keep our uniformed police officers out on the streets, doing what they do best - keeping our communities safe."

The Sunshine Canyon fund has previously provided $2 million to buy land for the Aliso Canyon Park, and $30,000 to install a rubberized sidewalk and relocate youth soccer and Little League fields.

Smith said money from the amenities fund must be used on projects within five miles of the landfill, but there are no restrictions on loaning the money for other programs.

Councilman Richard Alarcon, however, cautioned that the city needs to make sure it repays the no-interest loan.

"This money was put in a fund to help provide some relief to residents who have suffered from living next to this landfill," Alarcon said.

"The residents have suffered the environmental impact for years and we need to make sure the residents do not have to bear any other impacts."

However, Wayde Hunter, vice chairman of the Sunshine Canyon Landfill Citizen Advisory Committee, said his group was never informed of Smith's plan, which was approved on a 13-0 vote.

"It might be perfectly OK, but he never even asked us if it can be used for this," Hunter said. "If it's a loan, that's fine. But it would have been nice if he had touched base with the community.

"We are still suffering from the landfill. There are still smells and problems coming from there. The fund was created for the people of the Granada Hills area and not siphoned off for other uses."

The LAPD has been training officers to fill in as jailers when civilian have to take furloughs.

Current plans call for 88 officers - 83 jailers and five supervisors - to be assigned to the jails for six-month periods.

The problem in staffing developed when the LAPD opened the Metropolitan Detention Center next to Parker Center this year.

Police Protective League President Paul Weber said he appreciated the proposal.

"Anything that gets police back to doing their job and civilians back to their jobs is a good thing," Weber said. "Our civilian work staff has been dedicated to performing their jobs and we need to find a way to keep them there."

The plan triggered a request from Councilman Dennis Zine for officials to study what other funds under city control could help public safety.

"We should find out how many of these we have and if we can borrow the money in a similar fashion to supplement the department and reduce furloughs," Zine said.