3 OUTSIDERS FOR CHIEF HAHN SAYS HE'LL GET TO KNOW CANDIDATES BEFORE MAKING HIS CHOICE.

Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer

Three outsiders - two top East Coast cops and a homegrown veteran cop who now heads the Oxnard Police Department - were named finalists Thursday for Los Angeles police chief.

Whittling down the list of 13 - including six Los Angeles Police Department officials - the commission settled on outsiders as the answer to the scandal-plagued department's struggle for a decade to rehabilitate its once-proud reputation.

The finalists were chosen unanimously by the commission - and applauded by Mayor James Hahn, who will pick the next chief, but decried by the police union, which helped bring down the most recent chief.

The finalists are:

--Art Lopez, 52, a former LAPD deputy chief who lives in the San Fernando Valley and is now chief in Oxnard.

--William Bratton, 54, former commissioner of the New York and Boston police departments.

--John Timoney, 54, former Philadelphia police commissioner and a longtime New York Police Department official.

Police Commission President Rick Caruso said the five board members chose not to rank the three in order of preference because they are all equally strong candidates.

``These three we are asking Mayor Hahn to consider are all tried-and- true veterans. Each is unique, all proven leaders, each willing to listen and lead,'' Caruso said.

Hahn was pleased with the work of the commission, saying he is ``confident the new chief is on this list.''

``Each one of these individuals is an exceptional candidate,'' Hahn said.

The mayor is planning to meet in person with the candidates next week and to do more research into their backgrounds. He hopes to have a choice within the next few weeks.

``I'll move as expeditiously as I can, but I'm going to take the time necessary to satisfy myself, to ask all the questions,'' Hahn said.

The mayor will interview the three candidates Monday, along with City Council President Alex Padilla and Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, chairwoman of the City Council's Public Safety Committee. Hahn's choice is subject to the approval of the council.

The head of the police officers union was shocked at the trio who made the list and the fact that current LAPD brass didn't make it.

``We were stunned,'' said Mitzi Grasso, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents the rank and file.

``We're surprised that there is not one insider on the list of finalists, an insider who is already familiar with the problems that plague the LAPD,'' she said.

``Although an outsider brings a breath of fresh air, it takes them so long to understand what's going on with our Police Department. They have a huge job ahead of them. We believe that ultimately the mayor will chose the best candidate for the job. We're looking forward to working with the next chief of police.''

Among the 13 finalists were three LAPD deputy chiefs and three LAPD commanders, all working within the department.

``Between Bratton and Timoney you have two of the finest police chiefs in the history of the United States,'' said Fred Siegel, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

``Los Angeles can't lose,'' said Siegel, a former staffer on New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's transition team. ``If either one of those two men is picked, the city will do itself an enormous favor. Only good things can happen for Los Angeles. It's encouraging to me that L.A. is looking for models of proven success elsewhere since the L.A. model of policing has failed. It's taken a long time.''

But Councilman Dennis Zine, a retired cop who spoke highly of Lopez, said the prospect of an outsider being brought in to run such a large department reminds him of former LAPD Police Chief Willie L. Williams, who, like Timoney, was recruited from the Philadelphia department.

``To me, this is a major slap in the face of LAPD command staff that none of them made the final cut,'' Zine said.

Williams, who preceded former Chief Bernard C. Parks, quickly became unpopular in Los Angeles. In 1997, the Police Commission rejected Williams' request for a second five-year term, saying he lacked vision, leadership, management skills and had not earned the respect of officers.

Thursday's announcement was a climax to the Parks drama that began early this year when Hahn announced he did not favor a second five-year term for Parks, and the Police Commission declined to give him a new term. Parks retired in May, then launched a race for the 8th District City Council seat currently held by Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Parks was blamed for the low morale in the department and a resistance to reform of the beleaguered department, which is operating under a federal consent decree.

Hahn has made it clear in previous weeks that he wants a police chief who will continue to reform the department, boost the spirit of the demoralized rank and file, commit to community policing and hire 1,000 more police officers - and defer to the mayor and police commission.

The mayor has also said he wants a top cop who will fight crime, not make headlines.

Some said that seemed to rule out Bratton, perhaps one of the biggest law enforcement stars in the nation and a media darling while heading the New York and Boston police departments.

But Hahn declined to speak about the individual candidates, merely saying he was looking for the best candidate.

All three candidates are known as police reformers committed to community policing.

Bratton, reached for comment in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was attending a dinner for the local mayor, said he was exited and pleased with the commission's list and was looking forward to get back into policing.

Bratton conceded that he's not an LAPD insider, but said he still knows the challenges and problems of the department through his work on the team overseeing the implementation of the federal consent decree, which requires the LAPD to carry out reforms.

``I'm an outsider, but for for the past year I've been on the inside,'' Bratton said, adding that he has become familiar with the department and the community.

Bratton oversaw the 39,000-strong NYPD force from 1994 to 1996, when he was ousted by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

He wrote a book called ``Turnaround'' about his experiences reforming the NYPD and, previously, the Boston Police Department. After leaving the NYPD, Bratton joined Krol Associates, which oversees the LAPD's consent decree.

Lopez, a 28-year veteran of the LAPD and chief of Oxnard police since 1998, was elated by the announcement, though he referred to himself as a dark horse candidate next to some of the nation's best-known cops.

``Just being part of the top three, yeah, that makes me feel phenomenal,'' he said.

Lopez worked his way up through the LAPD ranks, eventually reaching the position of deputy chief in charge of operations at the Central Bureau.

He said he believes he can be the candidate Hahn is looking for, and though Oxnard is much smaller - only 208 sworn officers, and a city population of 182,000 residents - it is a microcosm of Los Angeles. Oxnard's population is two-thirds Latino.

``It has some of the same deeply ingrained gang problems; it has a healthy chunk of diversity like Los Angeles,'' Lopez said. ``It's one of the reasons I wanted to come here. And it's one of the reasons I want to come back to Los Angeles.''

But Lopez has never really left the city. Though he spends his weeks in Oxnard, Lopez comes back to his Porter Ranch home on weekends.

Irish-born Timoney, 54, was also well-known during his tenure as Philly's top cop, and was cheered by residents for going to crime scenes, patrolling the streets on a bicycle and arresting criminals himself. However, Timoney's been dogged by stories of going too soft on a drunken cop who crashed his city car but was given only 20 days' suspension as punishment.

Timoney left the Philadelphia department of 7,000 sworn officers in January to head New York-based Beau Dietl & Associates, a private security firm.

Before getting the top job in Philadelphia, Timoney spent nearly 30 years as an NYPD cop, working his way up to No. 2 in the department under fellow candidate Bratton.

Staff Writers Harrison Sheppard and Jason Kandel contributed to this report.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) LOPEZ

(2 -- color) BRATTON

(3 -- color) TIMONEY