Grading Chief Bratton

William J. Bratton is seeking a second term as Los Angeles police chief after having led departments in New York and Boston. Here is a summary of the 59-year-old official's first-term performance:

Crime rate

Violent crime has declined every year since he became chief. Serious offenses dropped 29% since 2001, the first full year before he took the department's helm; murders fell 18%. Last year, there were 55,035 fewer victims of robberies, rapes, assaults and other felonies compared with 2001.

Some experts say the drop had more to do with a national trend of declining big-city crime then Bratton's own tactics, which include using computer models to concentrate patrols in high-crime areas.

One crime category rose last year: Gang crime was up 15.7%, although it was still far below levels seen in the early 1990s and mid '80s. Bratton quickly announced an initiative targeting the worst gangs, and so far this year gang crime is down 5.9%.

Post-Rampart reforms

Police misconduct lawsuits and the amount paid in settlements have dropped significantly. But the number of citizen complaints against officers is up. Bratton says that's because the department does a better job of taking complaints and investigating accusations.

The department is still recovering from a corruption scandal that erupted eight years ago -- predating Bratton -- when officers working an anti-gang unit in the Rampart Division admitted to framing, beating and shooting people without justification. The city subsequently agreed to implement reforms laid out in a federal consent decree.

Under Bratton, the department has achieved a majority of the mandates but missed a deadline last year to complete them all within five years. The delayed projects include the development of a computer system to track officer conduct, which recently became fully operational. Last year a judge extended the decree's term three more years, a costly development because the LAPD must spend up to $10 million a year to monitor reform efforts.

Fatal shootings by officers went from seven in 2001 to 15 the next year, spiked at 16 in 2004 and dropped to 12 last year. Critics say officers still too often use excessive force. To improve relations in troubled neighborhoods, Bratton has moved toward more community-based policing, including having senior lead officers help residents solve problems before crimes occur.

Size of force