Hahn Chooses New LAPD Chief
Former NYC Police Commissioner Selected To Lead LAPD

Oct 2, 2002 3:50 pm US/Pacific (AP)-(LOS ANGELES)

Former New York City police commissioner William Bratton has been selected as the new chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, a city councilman confirmed Wednesday.

Bratton beat out Oxnard chief Art Lopez and former Philadelphia chief John Timoney to lead the 9,000-officer LAPD. He will take over a police force that confronts low morale, the aftermath of a corruption scandal and rising crime. Many in the police department also were hoping an insider would be selected as the new chief.

"We have been told that Bratton will be named as chief tomorrow," City Council member Jack Weiss said. "It is a positive step forward for the city of Los Angeles."

Bratton, 54, was police commissioner in New York from 1994-1996 before resigning under pressure from then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Prior to his tenure with the New York Police Department he led the New York City Transit Police and the Boston Police Department.

"The mayor spoke to him this morning, Bratton agreed to take the job and the mayor said that after interviewing all three candidates the choice is very clear," said a source in the office of Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn. "The mayor called him the best candidate for police chief in America."

The search for a new chief started after the Police Commission voted 4-1 in April against giving Chief Bernard Parks a second five-year term. Parks, who failed to get Hahn's support in his bid for another term as chief, is now running for a seat on the City Council.

Bratton was recognized for advocating community policing and reorganizing the New York Police Department. New York City's crime declined sharply while he was commissioner. Serious felonies dropped 33 percent and the murder rate was cut in half. Crime declined in other major cities, but not as much as in New York.

Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor at the University of Southern California who has been active in police reform movements, praised the selection of Bratton. "What the mayor has done is pick somebody who has a track record of success in turning around departments, in lowering crime rates and boosting morale of the troops," Chemerinsky said. "If somebody can do it, this is the right person for the job."

But many council members and many LAPD officers favored Lopez, the only Hispanic candidate and the only LAPD veteran to make the top three.

The last outsider to run the LAPD was former Philadelphia police commissioner Willie Williams, who took over in 1992 and lasted for one five-year term that was widely viewed as a failure.

Councilman Dennis Zine backed Lopez, but said Bratton's selection was not a surprise. "The Police Commission was clearly sending out a message that they wanted a new direction and reform in the LAPD," Zine said.

Hahn's choice must be confirmed by the City Council.