CHIEF TAKES PROFICIENCY TEST BRATTON COMPLETES EXAM ALL COPS MUST PASS.

Byline: James Nash and Karen Rubin Staff Writers

Nearly two years after arriving in Los Angeles to head the LAPD, Chief William Bratton on Monday took the 100-question test on policing that most of his officers - and others statewide - had to pass.

Bratton finished the multiple-choice California peace officer certification test at Rio Hondo College in Whittier in about an hour and 20 minutes Monday morning - 40 minutes ahead of deadline. He expects to learn by the end of the week whether he passed.

Bratton, looking confident and relaxed at a Parker Center news conference afterward, said the process of boning up for the exam has been rewarding. He also has trained on handgun use and arrest procedures, which are other elements of certification for which Bratton has not yet tested.

``It has been a time-consuming process, but also a rewarding process,'' Bratton said. ``This process has really allowed me to strengthen my ability to pass judgment on the conduct of my officers as well as develop policy.''

The exam is required by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training of any police officer in the state, including Bratton, who came to the Los Angeles Police Department in October 2002 after leading the Boston and New York police departments.

Although about 90 percent of officers who take the test pass it, the questions are challenging and involve intricacies of state law, said Alan Deal, spokesman for the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training.

``It's a tough test,'' Deal said. ``There's a tremendous emphasis on California-specific law.

``(Bratton) came from a different state,'' Deal said. ``He's probably very competent and knowledgeable about the law in New York and Boston before that, but he needs to know the law in and out in California.''

Bratton, whose department has come under a cloud after the June beating of a suspect in Compton, said training for the written exam and firearms and arrest tests has deepened his understanding of police work in California and the challenges officers face.

``The training raises the comfort level,'' the 56-year-old chief said. ``It provides you with a certain amount of security.''

Bratton is one of only two outsiders to lead the LAPD. The other, Willie L. Williams, did not pass the Police Officers Standards and Training test, raising the ire of some critics among the rank and file.

Bratton joked Monday that the test was conceived as a ``punitive measure, intended to keep outsiders out of the state of California.''

James Nash, [phone]

james.nash(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

LAPD Chief William Bratton holds a stack of workbooks he studied before taking his own police proficiency exam.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer