EDITORIAL RECONSIDERING POLICE CHASES COPS MUST BE GIVEN DISCRETION.

WE hope Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton learned some important lessons last week about his new hometown: Political stunts often backfire, and tough cases make for bad law.

After a high-speed police chase left a baby boy with a severed arm, the chief recommended a new policy that would prohibit most police chases unless suspects were wanted in connection with a crime, misdemeanor or felony.

The Police Commission liked the idea but didn't get around to implement the policy before reality discredited it.

On Thursday, some officers pursued a car that ran a stop sign and sped away. Then, one of its passengers stepped out of the vehicle and, machine gun in hand, started blasting away. Another chase and shootout ensued, and thanks to the heroics of the officers, no innocent people were harmed, only the criminals.

Had Bratton's restrictive chase policy been in effect, the suspects would never have been stopped. It would have been another case of cops waving at criminals and driving on.

Now the chief and the Police Commission are reconsidering reforms to the chase policy, and they're leaning toward guidelines that give discretion to the officers on the scene.

That's the only sort of policy that ever makes sense. No hard-and-fast rule can cover all potential circumstances. Cops need training, they need supervision, they need smarts - but don't need to be handcuffed by their superiors.