LA gears up for Jackson memorial

LOS ANGELES, July 6 (UPI) -- Thousands of public safety personnel will be deployed to manage crowds at memorials for the late pop icon Michael Jackson, Los Angeles officials said.

The official memorial scheduled for Tuesday at Staples Center is by invitation only and city officials have urged people without tickets to avoid the area, but officials expect hundreds of thousands of people might crowd into the area anyway, the Los Angeles Times said Monday.

Citing sources familiar with logistical planning for the event, the newspaper said several thousand police and fire department personnel will be assigned to private and public memorials to work on public safety, crowd and traffic control and crime prevention.

The largest part of the force will work around Staples Center, while personnel will also be assigned to the Jackson family compound in Encino, the Holmby Hills residence where Jackson collapsed June 25, and Forest Lawn Memorial cemetery, where the Jackson family intends to conduct a private memorial before the public event at Staples Center.

The Los Angeles Police Department dispatched officers to Dodger Stadium Monday, where thousands of people who won a lottery for the Staples Center event were to pick up their tickets.

Police services alone are expected to cost more than $2.5 million, the newspaper said. Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine Monday said Anschutz Entertainment Group -- the owner of Staples Center and the producer of the memorial -- should pay the entire cost of the event.

An AEG spokesman had not responded to the newspaper's request for comment. Los Angeles faces a $530 million dollar budget gap.

The memorial at Staples Center will feature an all-star lineup of entertainers, sports stars, politicians and other celebrities -- including Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, Oscar-winning singer Jennifer Hudson, Motown stars Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder and actress Brooke Shields.

The program will also feature appearances by former Lakers star Magic Johnson, singer Mariah Carey, Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Al Sharpton, a longtime friend of Jackson.