EDITORIAL CURSE OF THE LAPD BURDEN OF CONSENT DECREE LIKELY TO REMAIN BECAUSE OF VITAL COMPUTER SYSTEM DELAYS.

EVERY few months, the LAPD's consent decree czar, Gerald Chaleff, comes before police officials to update them on how the department is doing in complying with the decree's 152 provisions.

It must be the worst part of his job, putting a happy face on what is such a sad situation, caused by city officials' rush to agree to handcuff the Los Angeles Police Department because of the misconduct of a few rogue cops.

This week, Chaleff had to explain why it is taking so long, not to mention $18.3 million, to get the TEAMS II computer system working. TEAMS II is, in theory anyway, an early warning system to identify problem officers before they do great harm.

The Christopher Commission recommended creating TEAMS II after the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, but city officials failed to deliver the money until the consent decree required it. If they had, Rafael Perez and his fellow cop hoodlums might have been identified before they committed the crimes that became the Rampart Division scandal.

And if they had, perhaps James Hahn, then acting as city attorney, would not have had the chance to sell out the LAPD to the U.S. Justice Department by negotiating the burdensome consent decree in the first place.

As it is, TEAMS II is still struggling to become operational. Chaleff has trouble acknowledging this. He puts that happy face of his on the problem, even though the department must have two years of ``substantial'' compliance by June 15, 2006, or face extension of the consent decree and continuation of the waste of money it entails.

While the public has shown a willingness to let missed deadlines and broken promises at City Hall slide, the federal court isn't likely to take foot-dragging so lightly. Any extension will only add to the ongoing burden on the LAPD, which labors to fight crime with an understaffed department, even while shelling out as much as $30 million a year to try to comply with the decree.

Every year the decree lives on, that's more money that can't be spent hiring more cops.

Hahn rushed into the consent decree to cover up his long record of never having used his power as city attorney to stop police brutality and other abuses. If he had more foresight, he would have seen that the waste of money and the efforts of hundreds of officers in complying with the decree would stymie his efforts as mayor to hire more police.

Such is the curse of the LAPD.