EDITORIAL WASHINGTON, D.C. WEST MAYOR RIORDAN'S CAVING ON FEDERAL OVERSIGHT ON THE LAPD LEAVES THE CITY WITHOUT A FUTURE.

BY caving in on a federal court consent decree that surrenders control over the LAPD to a judge and team of monitors, Mayor Richard Riordan has set Los Angeles down a treacherous path.

Valley Councilman Hal Bernson put it just right last week when he warned his colleagues who were rushing to shirk their responsibility and cover their shame: ``If you agree to this, you will regret it the rest of your lives.''

The record is clear on what happens.

Because of an imprudent federal court consent decree, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority no longer decides the standard of service it will provide or how to spend its money without getting a federal judge's approval. The judge wants more buses, the MTA buys more buses.

Because of similar agreements by which Los Angeles school board members abdicated their responsibilities, huge chunks of Los Angeles Unified money are allocated by the whims of a federal judge.

And there are many, many other examples. All point to the long-term failure of leadership, all of them represent a surrender of authority to federal officials who are are accountable to no one. Most importantly, these officials are not making decisions based on what's good for the entire community but what's good for this class or that group - just parts of the community.

In the case of the Los Angeles Police Department, all it took was for freshman Valley Councilman Alex Padilla to choose between Riordan, who got him elected, and his newfound friends on the council to the tilt the issue.

Along with ailing Council President John Ferraro, he confronted Riordan on Friday with a veto-proof majority. So the mayor, who fights better behind the scenes than he does in public, rolled over and he took Police Chief Bernard C. Parks with him.

So the mayor, the chief, the council and the city attorney - those who bear the responsibility for the failings of the LAPD in the first place - spent four months in back rooms cutting a deal with the Justice Department and then cut more back-room deals.

None dared to accept the blame for LAPD's failures.

And none dared to accept the responsibility of fixing what is broken. The LAPD clearly needs to change, but we think local officials should do the fixing and the voters of Los Angeles should know who to hold accountable - and to do so.

In this whole sorry episode, the public gets just three minutes forcomment, on a done deal.

But wait! The public will get something else - the bill, and it will be a big one.

The city estimates it will cost $25 million or so to implement the consent decree, up to $45 million a year to maintain it. And the costs will grow as the feds make more and more demands.

The result will be cops, already demoralized, further demoralized by federal monitors questioning every act they do in the course of their duties. So more cops will quit and join police forces where the chief is the chief and not a go-between and there will be fewer cops on the streets at higher and higher costs.

Crime will likely rise and there will be less and less money for all the other things the city desperately needs, so more businesses will leave and so will those people who can afford to go to other towns, where they have a voice.

And L.A. will become another Washington, D.C.

That might not trouble the nation's highest-paid city officials - L.A.'s pitiful bunch of elected cowards - but the ordinary people of the city will truly regret their betrayal.

As Bernson said, they'll regret it for the rest of their lives.