2002 LOCAL NEWS: CHOOSING A CHIEF BRATTON TAPPED TO TAKE PARKS' PLACE.Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer For much of 2002, the city was consumed with the issue of who would lead the Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . .
After declining in April to recommend a second term for Chief Bernard C. Parks Bernard Parks (born December 7, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas) is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Parks attended Los Angeles City College, received his B.S. , Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California tapped a celebrity supercop from New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. to take the helm of the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. , with the charge of ``making Los Angeles the safest big city in America.'' William J. Bratton William Joseph 'Bill' Bratton is currently the 54th Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and was formerly Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, the only person to hold both positions. , 55, began his duties as the city's 54th police chief Oct. 25, and within a month he shuffled the top leadership in the department, replacing three retiring deputy chiefs by promoting a trio of bright young insiders who had competed for the chief's job. Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell became Bratton's No. 2 at Parker Center, in charge of running operations. Deputy Chief Sharon Papa took over the chief-of-staff position, and Deputy Chief George Gascon Gascon inhabitant of Gascony, France; people noted for their bragging. [Fr. Hist.: NCE, 1049] See : Boastfulness now heads up special projects. The search process began in May, shortly after the Police Commission followed Hahn's lead and denied Parks a second five-year term as chief. Now, Parks is running in the March 4 primary election for City Council in District 8, a seat held by Mark Ridley-Thomas until he became a member of the state Assembly early this month. The Police Commission appointed retired LAPD Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy as interim police chief. The search drew 51 applicants, including some of the best law-enforcement minds in the country. Among them were former and current LAPD brass including former Deputy Chiefs Mark Kroeker, now chief of police Portland, Ore., Art Lopez, now chief of police in Oxnard, and Rick Dinse, chief of police in Salt Lake City. Within the department, Assistant Chief David Gascon (no relation to George) and Deputy Chiefs David Kalish, Margaret York and Ron Bergmann competed for the job. To help sift through the applications, the Police Commission named a blue-ribbon citizens committee to help devise criteria to judge the candidates. The commission narrowed the list down to three: Bratton, Lopez and John Timoney, former head of Philadelphia police and a former colleague of Bratton. After weeks of consideration and hours of interviews with each candidate, Hahn picked Bratton, saying he was impressed with Bratton's commitment to community policing and police reform, as well as his success in fighting crime. During Bratton's tenure in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of from 1994 to 1996, crime dropped about 40 percent and continued to decline in the following years. Upon his confirmation by the City Council, the brash, media-friendly chief said gangs would be his No. 1 priority. Bratton's remarks turned out to be well-timed, as only weeks later the city witnessed a sudden surge of gang-related killings in the northeast San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. and South Central Los Angeles. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks, shown appealing for his job in April, lost the support of Mayor James Hahn, who declined to recommend a second five-year term for him. Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer (2) William Bratton was given an LAPD sweat shirt by City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and Mayor James Hahn. Bratton began his duties Oct. 25. Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer |
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