BRATTON DEFENDS LAPD, NOTING THAT IT'S UNDERSTAFFED CHIEF SAYS HE NEEDS LARGER OVERTIME BUDGET UNTIL HE CAN FILL 1,000 NEW OFFICER POSITIONS.

Byline: RACHEL URANGA Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE -- A resolute William Bratton painted the picture of a police-poor San Fernando Valley on Wednesday while defending his department, under attack recently after two videos surfaced showing officers attacking suspects.

``The Valley has been struggling this year. Gang crime this year is up, homicides are up,'' the Los Angeles police chief told about 70 business owners and community activists during a 30-minute speech to the Northridge-Chatsworth Rotary Club at the Porter Valley Country Club.

To counter the problems, the understaffed LAPD has been forced to move from hot spot to hot spot, focusing on the most violent criminals, he said. He said he needs a larger overtime budget until he can fill 1,000 new officer positions he wants over the next five years. It would be especially crucial before a Canoga Park police station opens in 2008.

``I don't want to steal cops from all other stations in the Valley to accommodate that station,'' he said.

Still, many at the luncheon expressed frustration with what they called an underserved Valley.

``What I am looking for is zero-tolerance policy with laws on the books. The city of Los Angeles struggles to enforce laws on the books. But Burbank doesn't have that kind of problem,'' said Jaime Cordarro, the president of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council. ``The problem in Los Angeles is that officers are running radio call to radio call.''

Bratton said he could effectively police the city -- eliminating the triage mentality -- if he had at least 12,000 officers. There are 9,000 now.

He complained that there is only one officer per square mile, and said in the Valley certain command stations only had four cars to patrol on any given night.

He also assured the crowd that the department would be honest and transparent as investigations continued into a second videotaped incident that surfaced this week, this one showing an officer pepper-spraying a handcuffed man.

It came days after a video surfaced of an officer punching an alleged gang member in the face during an arrest in Hollywood.

``We have developed an openness and a transparency. This is all about not being afraid to explain ourselves, not being afraid whether it is a bad story to tell. I still got to tell the truth,'' he said. ``Trust us, please, to do the right thing.''

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

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