BRATTON SHUFFLES LAPD BRASS DEPARTMENT TO FOCUS ON 'TOP 10 PERCENT'.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Police Chief William Bratton shook up the duties of key aides Monday and also said he would refocus the LAPD's crime-fighting efforts on gang members, ex-convicts and others responsible for most of Los Angeles' crime.

The chief said he wanted to build on efforts that saw homicides drop 24 percent during his first year in office, from 572 to 435, and violent crimes decrease 5.4 percent.

``We have started some momentum that I don't want to lose,'' Bratton said in an interview in his Parker Center office. ``This is a strategy to continue that momentum.''

He said realigning the duties of his top commanders would help step up the department's anti-crime efforts.

``A lot of our focus is going to be concentrating on that 10 percent of the criminal population that commits over 50 percent of the crimes. We are going to be refocusing our strategic and tactical operations on that 10 percent who commit most of the crimes.''

That 10 percent includes gang members, ex-cons and other criminal elements, Bratton said.

He is scheduled to report on the changes to the Police Commission today, although his actions do not require the approval of the panel, the mayor or the City Council.

To strengthen the department's efforts to fight crime, Bratton said, he plans to reshuffle the positions and responsibility of his top aides to make the best use of their talents.

Among the top changes are naming Assistant Chief James McDonnell as his first assistant, to take charge when Bratton is out of the city. McDonnell also will assume responsibility for personnel, including officer training and the Police Academy, along with risk management and department ombudsman responsibilities in an office being renamed the Personnel Services Bureau.

Assistant Chief George Gascon will take over responsibility of the Operations Bureau from McDonnell. The focus remains on dealing with crime, but it will also be on implementing the federal consent decree imposed in the wake of the Rampart scandal.

In addition, Deputy Chief Sharon Papa was placed in charge of all technical, equipment and building matters of the department, and Deputy Chief Michael Berkow will become Bratton's chief of staff.

Papa had been overseeing risk management and the department's ombudsman office and is now being given greater control in the Office of Support Services, Bratton said.

In that post, she will be responsible for the communications division, including the 911 system, as well as all technology within the department. In addition, she will oversee the department's facility needs, including the plans for a new Parker Center.

Mayor James Hahn was briefed about the changes and supports the effort, an aide said.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who chairs the council's Public Safety Committee, also backed Bratton's plans.

``He has a sense of what he needs to make the department work,'' Miscikowski said. ``Clearly, he recognizes that people are concerned about crime, and, if he thinks it can be isolated and pinpointed, he should be given the tools to do that.''

Miscikowski said she had seen evidence of how a small group of criminals - particularly gang members - is involved in such a high percentage of crimes, and that she had seen that evidence through such programs as COMPSTAT, the computer crime-tracking system of the Los Angeles Police Department.

``What you find is that the same couple of blocks of a city are responsible for most of the crime,'' Miscikowski said.

Bob Baker, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said his group appreciated Bratton's plans and his working with them.

``We are keeping an open mind and will work with the chief and the people he has there,'' Baker said. ``I think what's the most significant is that he and others have listened to what we have been saying for years.

``And we support his efforts to get more police officers. We don't think much more can be done without more officers.''

Bratton, however, said he recognized the fiscal and political realities of working in Los Angeles.

``Until things improve on the state and local level, we are going to have to make do with what we have,'' Bratton said. ``Unless someone comes up with a couple of billion dollars and gives it to us, we are going to have to do more with less.''

The LAPD accounts for more than $1.1 billion of the city's $5.1 billion budget, but has been rebuffed in the past year despite efforts by Hahn to expand it.

The City Council last week put off for at least a year a proposal to ask voters to approve a parcel tax of $100 for every 1,000 officers.

Bratton has said he supports such a measure, but recognizes that the earliest it could go before voters is November 2004.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com