EDITORIAL CITY HALL SECRECY PUBLIC DESERVES FULL ACCOUNTING OF GOVERNMENT MISCONDUCT.

BETWEEN the Tennie Pierce saga of frat-boy antics at the L.A. Fire Department and the Michael Berkow-related allegations of rampant naughtiness in the L.A. Police Department, we're getting used to outrageous behavior at City Hall. The misconduct might be horrific, but it's no longer surprising.

What is horrific and surprising, though, is city officials' attempt to conceal facts from the public.

Officer Patricia G. Fuller alleges that the LAPD's K-9 bomb-sniffing unit is overrun by out-of-control beasts, and she's not talking about the dogs. She says she was subject to repeated harassment from her male colleagues.

According to Fuller, in the name of ``camaraderie,'' photographs of half-naked cops -- exposing their genitals or buttocks -- were posted around the workplace. Her towel was taken from her locker. And her complaints went unaddressed.

Now it's possible, of course, that like Tennie Pierce, Fuller is making a mountain out of a molehill, claiming that behavior that's merely adolescent or stupid was actually malicious or discriminatory. But bolstering her case is the reality that city officials want to keep the facts of the matter from entering the legal or the public record.

Last week, a judge ordered the city to release personnel files related to the case that the city attorney tried to keep confidential. The judge delayed a final ruling until Jan. 4, but assuming that she determines that the information within the files is germane, the city's effort at secrecy will be dashed -- as well it should.

It's bad enough that within major sectors of the city work force, crude and offensive behavior has somehow come to be considered the norm. But harassment is unacceptable, and if the city wants to clean up its act, it needs to be more transparent in its operations, not less.

The corruption that for so long has corroded the credibility of the city's elected officials has clearly infected the rank-and-file workers. It's going to take a clean sweep to restore City Hall's reputation.