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Chief Bratton Recommends Hiring New Chief Internally
Citing the difficulties and the slow start an outsider can have when arriving to Los Angeles, LAPD Chief William Bratton recommends that the search for a new chief within the department in an interview with the LA Times. "Nobody understands what it's like to be an outsider better than me. I've done it many times," he said pointing the time it takes to "get up to speed" and understand political power structure.
If the chosen candidates comes from within, he could be chosen and ready to start the job immediately after Bratton leaves at the end of October. That's a good thing, considering two sticky issues--the budget and gangs--need attention right away.
"The budget is awful," he told the Times. "We're already feeling some of the impact: The stopping of promotions, civilian furloughs, the freeze on hiring civilians, equipment shortages. . . . The next chief will have a very different challenge and priority. How do you keep morale high? How do you keep the successes going forward when you have less to work with?"
Those budget issues relate to reducing crime by an increased police force. "The irony is that we know . . . how we can get to the point where gang crime and violence would no longer be debilitating to this city. A couple thousand more cops that you could concentrate in [gang] areas and an expansion of the mayor's intervention programs."
Bratton believes one of his promoted deputy and assistant chiefs, which includes two women, could fill the role.
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