Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine is seeking a full accounting of a Jan. 10 incident in which an LAPD officer not wearing his riot helmet was hit in the head with the wooden end of a sign during a protest over the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

The incident became a source of controversy because Los Angeles Police Department officials decided that officers at the scene should not immediately wear their riot helmets out of concerns that the gear might escalate passions among the demonstrators. LAPD Deputy Chief Terry Hara said that did not mean that officers couldn't use their helmets in the tactical situation that unfolded during the protest.

The Zine motion, backed by Westside Councilman Bill Rosendahl, orders the LAPD to provide a report on its policies that deal with preparing and equipping officers assigned to crowd control, including "use and non-use of helmets and other tactical gear."

The motion cites the LAPD's own Emergency Operations Guide, which states: "DO NOT assign officers without helmets, vests and batons to crowd control missions."

The Police Protective League has said in no uncertain terms that helmets, face guards, gas masks and vests are protection -- basic necessities that stand in the way of injury should anything go wrong while dealing with large groups of people.

Top LAPD commanders said their main priority was the safety of officers. But they maintain that the tactics officers use for crowd control should be based on the specific situation. Many situations require tactical gear, they said, while others might not.