EDITORIAL MAKING L.A. SAFER COMMON-SENSE POLICING REAPS BIG REWARDS FOR BRATTON'S LAPD.

LET'S all pay very close attention to what Chief William Bratton is doing over at the Los Angeles Police Department. Because whatever it is, it's working.

Three full years into his tenure as chief, it's hard not to marvel at Bratton's accomplishments. Overall violent crime has gone down every year under his leadership, as have homicides and gang violence. The numbers from 2005 are the most impressive yet.

In the last year, serious crime in Los Angeles dropped 14 percent, 16 percent in the San Fernando Valley. Homicides fell 6 percent to below 500 for the first time in six years. The declines were even more impressive in the rates of robberies and property crimes.

To what do we owe this good news? What are Bratton and Co. doing that merits such close study?

The explanation begins, of course, at the grass-roots level, with the cops who work tirelessly to protect our streets. They are the ones who detect, prevent and root out crimes. They are, first and foremost, deserving of this safer city's gratitude.

But credit also extends up to the top.

It's no coincidence that the LAPD's turnaround coincided with Bratton's hiring, which was without a doubt the single best decision former Mayor James Hahn ever made, even though he bungled the politics of it and treated then Chief Bernard Parks badly without justification. Bratton took over a dispirited and demoralized department, and restored its members' sense of pride and confidence.

Bratton has got the LAPD focused on sound, efficient policing - investing manpower and resources so as to yield the maximum impact. This is no mean feat in a department that's chronically understaffed, hampered by a shortened work schedule that limits officers' availability and handcuffed by a federal consent decree that was completely unnecessary.

But somehow Bratton and his command staff have made it work. Somehow they have effectively pressured city leadership to come up with the money to hire more cops - without raising taxes - while better utilizing the officers they have.

Using computer mapping programs, they have been able to shift officers around the city depending on what area has the greatest need at any given time. They have targeted repeat offenders - the criminals who commit the most crimes - to achieve the greatest crime-fighting effect.

In the Valley, the LAPD focused this last year on the Vineland Boys gang that terrorized much of North Hollywood, arresting more than 250 members, 43 of whom have been charged with federal crimes.

It's common sense - put the worst offenders away for a long time, and they won't be able to continue plaguing our communities - but it's easier said than done. And with great success, to the benefit of all L.A. residents, Bratton's LAPD has done a tremendous job of making common-sense policing a reality.