CHIEF PICK A FOCUSED MANAGER LED BOSTON, NEW YORK OUT OF CRISIS, MADE CITIES SAFER.

Byline: Phillip W. Browne Staff Writer

William J. Bratton has built a reputation as a police executive - an innovator and intellectual - who has led law enforcement organizations in two major cities out of periods of crisis.

The 54-year-old former commissioner of both the New York and Boston police departments was chosen Wednesday by Mayor James Hahn to be the next chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.

If confirmed by a simple majority of the 15-member City Council, law enforcement experts say, Bratton would bring to Los Angeles the management and leadership skills he used as New York City police commissioner between 1994 and 1996, when he led a 45,000-person, $2.3 billion organization.

``I think that his extensive knowledge about law enforcement and what it takes to manage a large law enforcement agency is a very important quality that we in Los Angeles look forward to receiving,'' Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Wednesday.

Using private-sector management techniques, Bratton delivered the largest crime reduction in New York City history - an overall 33 percent decline in reported felony crimes and a 50 percent reduction in homicides.

``He's a great manager. It's a great choice for L.A. He is both a ramrod leader and a manager,'' said Fred Siegel, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

``He's not just the gung-ho field guy, but also a manager. He thinks about management. He reads about it. He studies it.''

In his book ``Turnaround,'' Bratton credited Compstat - a computerized system he and two other NYPD officials developed for tracking offenses - with helping officers pinpoint high-crime areas for additional patrols.

After making the cover of Time magazine for his crime-reduction efforts, Bratton clashed with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani over who deserved more credit for the record decline. Bratton resigned in 1996, but the Compstat system remains in place.

Compstat is now being used by one-third of the nation's police departments, including Philadelphia and New Orleans. Los Angeles uses its own system to fast-track collection of crime data.

Bratton strongly adheres to the ``broken windows'' theory of crime suppression - that if minor crimes like littering and jaywalking are ignored, more-serious criminal activity can flourish.

Bratton is also known as a leader who has cracked down on corruption, and has expertise negotiating settlements with the federal government.

He was part of the team overseeing the implementation of the federal consent decree imposed on the LAPD in the wake of the Rampart scandal, but resigned from that post when he entered the running for the chief's job.

Bratton began his law enforcement career in 1970 in Boston and, in 1980, became superintendent of police - the department's highest sworn officer.

Since 1983, he has overseen five police agencies, accomplishing major reforms in each department while overseeing significant declines in crime.

He served as chief of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police and as superintendent of the Metropolitan District Commission Police, which patrolled the Boston metropolitan area.

From 1990 to 1992, he led the New York City Transit Police, with subway crime falling nearly 50 percent.

Bratton later returned to Boston as superintendent-in-chief in 1992 and was named Boston police commissioner in 1993.

He holds a bachelor's degree from Boston State College and is a graduate of the FBI National Executive Institute.

Staff Writers Troy Anderson and Jason Kandel contributed to this report.