BRATTON TO KEEP UNINHIBITED STYLE, HE TELLS PANELISTS.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

Staff Writer

Seeking a second five-year term, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton promised the Police Commission on Tuesday that he would continue his candid leadership style.

Beginning the review process that could take up to six months, Bratton, 59, said he wants to build on the foundation he has established since being appointed in 2002.

Joined by his wife, Court TV personality Rikki Kleiman, Bratton said before the commission meeting that he appreciates the freedom he has been given as chief.

He said he has enjoyed working with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and has no plans to change his approach to law enforcement, his candor or his practice of traveling widely, which frequently takes him away from Los Angeles.

"I travel because that's what you have to do to get the money and keep up with what's going on," Bratton said.

Bratton's candor has sometimes put him at odds with other city officials.

"People here are sometimes a little more sensitive than those on the East Coast," said Bratton, who previously led the New York City Police Department. "But I say what I feel. If I upset someone, I'm sorry about that. But we move on. I think I have good relations, generally, with the people across the street (in City Hall)."

Villaraigosa said he endorses a second term for Bratton.

"If he was gone (on trips) and crime was going up, I would have a problem with that," Villaraigosa said. "But crime has gone down every year he has been here, and he has done that without many more officers."

The mayor said he has talked with Bratton for two years about a second term and asked him to stay on the job. Bratton said he had always intended to seek a second term to the job that now pays him $300,442 a year.

Police Commission President John Mack said he expects little opposition to Bratton's reappointment.

"We have a process to go through, and that will include input from anyone who wants to comment on the chief," Mack said. "But no one else has applied for the job, and I doubt if anyone will.

"The chief has shown himself to be mindful of the unique diversity of the city of Los Angeles and, in that regard, he has worked very, very hard."

Officials with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents the 9,400 officers, said they would have no comment on a second term for Bratton.

Councilman Bernard Parks, who preceded Bratton as chief and was removed by former Mayor James Hahn, said he also would have no immediate comment on the reappointment.

"There is a process in place, and I will follow that," Parks said. "I will be interested to see what the community has to say. That will be the most important part of this."

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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