EDITORIAL THE RUSH TO COMPRESS PUBLIC SAFETY, NOT POLITICS, SHOULD GOVERN THE LAPD WORKWEEK.

MAYOR James Hahn says that he is convinced that a flexible work schedule for the LAPD will increase public safety.

The rest of us still need convincing.

A compressed, three-day, 12-hour or four-day, 10-hour workweek is obviously appealing to Los Angeles Police Department officers. Since four out of five L.A. cops live outside the city, it would significantly cut back on their weekly commutes.

And who wouldn't like to stay home three or four days a week?

But would it be good for the public?

Providing a perk for cops is a far cry from making the streets of Los Angeles safer for its residents, and that should be - lest anyone in City Hall forget - the ultimate purpose of a police department.

It would be easier to share in Hahn's confidence if he had waited to see the results of a $150,000 study of compressed workweeks before offering his proposal.

That way, Angelenos would have a better idea about the effects of such a plan, not only on officer morale, but also on officer fatigue, overtime costs and law enforcement.

But Hahn has moved forward without the study, showing little regard for the conclusions it may draw or the taxpayer dollars that funded it.

Hahn's rush to judgment suggests that he has other concerns beyond public safety on his mind - like paying off political debts.

The Police Protective League, which represents L.A. cops, has long been agitating for the compressed schedule. Before last spring's mayoral election, the union gave Hahn its valuable endorsement, apparently in exchange for a promise to implement a compressed LAPD workweek within his first 90 days in office.

Hahn's deadline on delivering that promise is coming up fast - no wonder he's in such a hurry.

While it's refreshing to see a politician take his commitments so seriously, it would do Hahn good to remember that his first commitment is to the city that elected him - not the special interests that helped get him elected.

Public safety should be the first and overriding concern.

Hahn has offered some practical arguments for his plan, saying that it would boost the LAPD's recruitment and retention efforts and put more officers on the street.

We hope he's right. But his claims would carry more weight if they weren't tainted by politics.

It would also help if we had reliable evidence that cops won't get burned out, that community policing won't be compromised, that the plan will be both feasible and cost-effective.

That's where a comprehensive study would come in.

Hahn might have convinced himself, but he still has a lot of convincing to do.