EDITORIAL FALSE HOPES.

LOS Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has learned the hard way about setting goals that depend on the cooperation of Los Angeles City Hall.

Last year, the chief, flush with optimism and mindful of the success he's had in Boston and New York, set an ambitious goal - reducing homicides by 20 percent.

Now Bratton has given up on that dream. ``It's quite clear we're not going to get 20 percent (reduction) on homicides,'' he says.

That's an understatement. So far, the homicide rate in Los Angeles is up 5.3 percent in 2004 even though violent crime has gone down 15.1 percent overall - short of Bratton's goal, but an impressive shift nonetheless.

Unless there are no more than 35 slayings in the final four months of the year - which would take something close to a miracle to happen - there's no way the city will make the 20 percent cut.

Part of the reason for the shortfall is the nature of the crime. Official policies tend to have little effect on crimes of passion. The bigger reason, however, is L.A. City Hall indifference to the problems of the city.

Unlike New York and Boston, where city officials rallied by Bratton and came up with the money needed to hire officers, buy equipment and fight crime, the chief gets too little support from City Hall in Los Angeles.

The LAPD is perpetually undermanned and, incredibly, it has fewer officers today than a year ago because Mayor James Hahn and the City Council have squandered the public treasury without improving services to the public.

Bratton's mistake was counting on City Hall to get serious about crime. Now he's going before voters asking for the money to help fight crime in the city. But the question that still needs to be answered is: Will the mayor or council lift one finger to come up with any money to match taxpayers' contribution?