Thread: LA police chief Bratton stepping down

LA police chief Bratton stepping down

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, The Associated Press
1:43 p.m. August 5, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Police Chief William Bratton stunned the city Wednesday by announcing he will step down after a seven-year tenure in which he instituted major reforms of the once-scandalized Police Department and began a turnaround of its relations with minorities.

"For me personally and professionally it is the right time," Bratton, 61, told a City Hall news conference where he revealed he will begin working with a global security firm. (MOE MONEY)
Bratton said when he came to the Police Department, "it was a troubled organization in what was arguably a very troubled city."

He cited achievements since then in dramatically reversing what had been increasing crime rates and in keeping Los Angeles safe from potential terrorist attacks in the post-9/11 era.

But he hoped his legacy would be improvements in race relations.

"I believe we have turned a corner in that issue, in that this is a city that is proud of its racial diversity, it is a city where people work together. It is my belief that the Los Angeles Police Department has played a significant role in bringing that about," he said.

Bratton's resignation will be effective Oct. 31. He will then join Altegrity Inc. of Falls Church, Va., focusing on bringing professional policing to emerging nations.

His departure, less than halfway through his second term, caught city leaders unaware.

"I'm in mourning today," said John Mack, a high-profile African-American member of the civilian Police Commission who in his past role as leader of the Los Angeles Urban League was a frequent critic of the department.

"The people of Los Angeles are safer than they've been in half a lifetime," added City Council President Eric Garcetti, crediting Bratton for reforms and for knocking down the crime rate to levels not seen in decades.

Bratton's decision came just weeks after a judge released the department from eight years of oversight by the U.S. Department of Justice, which had alleged a long pattern of abuse.

Former Mayor James Hahn, who originally picked Bratton, said the results speak for themselves.

"The consent decree has been lifted, crime is down, and the community has much greater confidence in the department and its professionalism," said Hahn, now a county judge.

African-American commentator and community activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson said Bratton's departure will be a "tremendous blow" to the city.

"Bratton did more than any other chief in recent times to really push the envelope on reform, minority recruitment, community policing, resolving tensions in Los Angeles between minority communities and the Police Department," Hutchinson said.

Bratton changed "the culture of the department that was seen as brutal and oppressive to a department that is seen and regarded and hailed as a department that is committed and dedicated to a true partnership with community residents and organizations," he said.

Even the city police union praised Bratton while acknowledging some disagreements.

"He successfully used his visibility to strengthen partnerships between LAPD and the residents it serves," Police Protective League President Paul M. Weber said in a statement.

Bratton was picked to lead the Los Angeles department in 2002 after heading police forces in New York City and Boston.

At the time, Los Angeles police were still struggling to emerge from under the clouds of the 1991 Rodney King beating and the Rampart police corruption scandal later in the decade.

Bratton is two years into his second and final five-year term. The City Charter would have to be changed for him to serve a third term.

Los Angeles police chiefs once enjoyed unlimited tenures. Changes in the charter under reforms driven by the King beating and resulting 1992 riot led to limits.

One goal of the Bratton administration was to make the force more closely resemble the city.

The 10,000-officer force is now 42 percent Hispanic, 37 percent Caucasian, 12 percent black and 7 percent Asian, according to Gerald Chaleff, the civilian administrator in charge of the department's reform office.

Andre Birotte, the department's inspector general, who oversees internal investigations, said he was surprised and disappointed by Bratton's departure.

"He has made a lot of changes in the department and his reputation for transparency will be one of the hallmarks of his tenure," Birotte said.
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Associated Press Writers Thomas Watkins and John Antczak contributed to this report

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... dex=144441

Good Riddance to bad rubbish.

this is the same chief who marched with the LA Mayor (a former gang member himself) against the local police in response to the may day riots in mc arthur park 2 years ago

He helped sell California to Mexico.

Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This guy made me sick everytime he was on TV. Maybe we can get a person in there who does not want America to turn into Mexico.

The next one could be even worse, like an English as a second language type.

Who Will Replace Bill Bratton as LAPD Chief?

By Jill Stewart in crime, politicsWednesday, Aug. 5 2009 @ 1:16PMWho will succeed LAPD Chief Bill Bratton, who is leaving to work for his former boss Michael Cherkasky at Kroll Associates (but in this incarnation, these two old friends will now run Altegrity)?

Bratton announced his plan to leave following months of rumors -- rumors the chief fed by traveling almost as often as missing-in-action Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The three assistant chiefs under Bratton may be in the running for his job: Jim McDonnell, Sharon Papa and Earl Paysinger.

It's also possible that the appointees on the Los Angeles Police Commission will reach deeper into the ranks to create a new LAPD star. There's talent in Bratton's huge command staff, including eight or nine deputy chiefs ranging from the quotable and well-known Michel Moore to tough-guy, Mr. Clean, Charlie Beck, the head of detectives.

A lot of national and even international news outlets are expressing shock and surprise at Bratton's departure. It's not a surprise to us at the Weekly, where Patrick Range McDonald dug into this question a few weeks ago. Crikey, folks, Bill Bratton put his house up for sale in a horribly down L.A. market. That was a huge, huge hint.

One thing we know for sure:
As police expert and radio news broadcaster Pete Demetriou explained on KNX earlier today, an interim chief will probably run the department for the rest of the year, and that person will almost certainly be somebody who is NOT in the running to be the permanent chief.

That is standard operating procedure, so that nobody in City Hall has a chance to game the search for a new chief by giving somebody a leg up as the temporary, acting chief.

With LAPD now free of the federal consent decree, and much cleansed from its Rampart scandal days, it seems very, very likely that the search for a new chief will focus inside the LAPD itself. Who is your favorite candidate for new chief of the LAPD?

Tags: Bill Bratton, Charles Beck, chief, departure, Earl Paysinger, federal consent decree, housing market, Jim McDonnell, Kroll Associates, LAPD, Los Angeles City Council, Los Angeles Police Commission, Sharon Papa

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/polit ... ment-lapd/