BRATTON LOOKS LIKE SHOO-IN AT LAPD CHIEF GETS SUPPORT FOR NEW TERM.

Byline: RACHEL URANGA

Staff Writer

With the crime rate falling, a diverse police force growing and the unabashed backing of Los Angeles' larger-than-life mayor, LAPD Chief William Bratton appears to have a lock on his bid for a second term.

During five years at the helm of the Los Angeles Police Department, the globe-trotting, tough-talking law-enforcement veteran has helped restore officer morale, launched a crackdown on gangs and implemented a complex computer system that tracks crime and pinpoints hot spots.

"Bill Bratton is the finest police chief in America, and we have the numbers to prove it," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said recently.

"While crime is on the rise across the country, it continues to drop in Los Angeles. I enthusiastically support the chief in his efforts to seek a second term at the helm of the Los Angeles Police Department."

A recent poll by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University found 56 percent of Angelenos supported Bratton for a second term.

Bratton received overwhelming backing from whites and San Fernando Valley residents in the survey, but not quite half of African-American respondents supported him and about one-third opposed him. Half of all Latinos backed him and a quarter opposed him, with the rest undecided.

The civilian Police Commission, which is appointed by the mayor and oversees the LAPD, is holding a public hearing tonight on Bratton's request for a second term.

But City Councilman Bernard Parks, an outspoken critic of the man who replaced him as police chief five years ago, is asking the commission to hold more hearings.

Although the commission has 90 days to decide whether to reappoint Bratton to the $300,442-a-year post, the chief is already looking ahead.

Bratton said he plans to continue whittling away at the city's crime rate, get the LAPD out from under the constraints of a federal consent decree governing its operations, and ensure the department has a "robust counter-terrorism capability."

Equally important, he said, are building relationships with the city's African-American community and the growing immigrant population, and creating a department that reflects Los Angeles' diversity.

To that end, Bratton today will promote 22 command officers, about half of them women and minorities, making it one of the largest and most diverse ceremonies in department history.

"My personal goal is using the LAPD's success to try to continue a healing process with the city's minority communities, which has been so problematic and has resulted in two of the worst riots in the history of America," Bratton said. "Here is a city where the police can be on the cutting edge of improving race relations rather than being on the flash point and sparking racial conflagration."

Civil-rights attorney Connie Rice praised Bratton for his reform-minded track record but said the LAPD must change how it promotes officers and evaluates public safety.

"He has to change the LAPD culture to a community-policing, problem-solving police culture," she said. "He has to change the quality of investigations. And he has to do what it takes to get the trust of the communities."

Tough challenges

A decorated officer who previously headed police departments in New York City and his native Boston, Bratton was hired as LAPD chief on Oct. 25, 2002.

His challenges were immediate. An outbreak of gang violence during his first months as chief earned Los Angeles the dubious title of the nation's murder capital.

The LAPD was critically understaffed, had a hiring freeze in place, and officer morale was grim. The department was also chafing under a federal consent decree imposed after corruption and abuse were uncovered at the Rampart Division in the late 1990s.

The chief quickly restructured his command staff, changes designed to make the LAPD "transparent and inclusive" and increase accountability.

He renewed the city's war on gangs but also implemented his "broken windows" plan -- an approach that targets minor crime before the problems become more serious.

Still, the chief is not without critics who complain about his blunt speech and his frequent travels, both of which Bratton refuses to apologize for.

Others say he could do more to resolve long-simmering conflicts between the LAPD and the city's minority population.

"I still think there is a lot of work to be done to better connect with the African-American and Latino communities," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Urban Policy Roundtable.

"You have got to show that you are really disciplining officers. You have got to show that you are really taking complaints seriously and you have got to cut down on use of force. But I will give him a high mark on making that effort."

Adjusting policy

While Hutchinson supports Bratton, he and others are still critical of the decision not to discipline Officer Steven Garcia in the fatal February 2005 shooting of Devin Brown, a 13-year- old car-theft suspect.

In the case -- as well as other controversial use-of-force incidents -- Bratton met with critics and protesters. He broke away from what some saw as LAPD's bunker mentality and willingly accepted blame.

He backed a policy prohibiting officers from shooting at moving vehicles, as in the Brown incident.

He also ordered the LAPD to spend millions of dollars to redesign and replace officers' flashlights after Officer John Hatfield was videotaped in 2004 striking an African-American motorist 11 times with a 2-pound metal flashlight.

And after the death of 19-month-old Suzie Pena -- who was fatally shot when her father used her as a shield during a confrontation with police -- Bratton appointed a board of inquiry to review the department's response. Its recommendations are pending.

Jetsetter

Bratton is popular on the speaking circuit, with plenty of powerful friends including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and top FBI officials, and an illustrious reputation as one of the country's top crime fighters.

So far this year, he's spent 16 days out of state attending or speaking at law-enforcement conferences, including a three-day anti-gang meeting with Villaraigosa in Washington, D.C., and a "Policing the Future" session in Dublin, Ireland.

"Get used to it," Bratton snapped, when asked about his frequent trips.

"I am always going to do a lot of travel, but I have a phenomenal command staff and am in instant communication with them. I am getting more information today at any point in time than any of my predecessors (did), and that is one of the benefits of the electronic age."

In the Valley business community, Bratton is widely praised for outreach and accessibility. Even among gang-intervention groups he is seen as an ally.

"He's been very encouraging and supportive of the work we have done as a community-based organization," said Bobby Arias, president of Communities in Schools, a North Hills-based gang intervention group that relays any complaints it receives about police to the LAPD.

Even with this support, the chief's next five years could prove challenging.

Responding to repeated complaints that the department is one of the most understaffed agencies in a major city, Villaraigosa has promised to raise the ranks of the LAPD to 10,000 officers by 2009.

And even with homicides down nearly 30 percent since he came into office, Bratton will be expected to further drive down those numbers.

A former member of the team monitoring the department's compliance with the federal consent decree, Bratton is also going to be under increased scrutiny to get the decree lifted.

Though the department says it's close to full compliance, issues remain. One debate involves gang officers being required to provide detailed financial information.

Despite filing a lawsuit for an injunction against the LAPD's searches on Skid Row and sharply criticizing alleged aggressive tactics and racial profiling, the head of the American Civil Liberties Union said she will still support a second term for Bratton.

"He's committed to consent-decree compliance, the reform of the LAPD," said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California. "He's committed to transparency and civilian oversight. In all, we think that his contract should be renewed."

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1) LAPD Chief William Bratton inspects the 702nd Police Academy graduating class in January 2003 -- the first to graduate under his administration. Hearings begin today on Bratton's bid for a second five-year term. Some criticize his abrupt speech and jetsetting ways, but endorsements abound.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(2) Captain I

Rigoberto Romero

(3) Captain I

William Scott

(4) Captain I

Steve Ruiz

Box

LAPD brass

SOURCE: Los Angeles Police Department