AS THE POLICE Commission nears its decision on whether to reappoint Chief William J. Bratton to a second five-year term, commissioners have before them a record of accomplishment, including falling crime, improving community relations, increasing diversity and strong leadership. They also have -- or at least they should have -- some concerns and questions.
The May 1 MacArthur Park incident may well have been an aberration, as Bratton has insisted, and it might have had little effect on his reappointment had it not occurred in the middle of that process. But the timing provides commissioners with an opportunity to assess the chief's record in its entirety -- with the cautionary notes raised by command failings in the park as well as due regard for his many achievements over the last five years.
The commission has until July 27 to act. Though it may vote sooner than that, reappointing Bratton without knowing why the command-and-control system failed last month would signal a lack of interest, at best, in the opinion of the City Council, which has scheduled a follow-up hearing. At worst, it would risk minimizing the public's well-founded concern over the incident. Selecting, overseeing and supervising the chief are the most important functions the commission performs. This is thus a test not just of Bratton but of the commission itself.
The reappointment process is relatively new in L.A. It began with a 1992 ballot measure correcting flaws in the old system, which guaranteed the chief's independence from political meddling but left the LAPD with insufficient oversight. A chief remained in place as long as he wanted to, a fact underscored by then-Chief Daryl F. Gates' resistance to calls that he step down around the time of the Rodney King beating and its aftermath.
So is the new system more political? Unquestionably -- and that is not inherently a bad thing. It reflects a belief that the city's top elected official, the mayor, should have significant, if indirect, discretion over who leads the Los Angeles Police Department. Chiefs are appointed to a five-year term and, with the commission's consent, can serve one, and only one, additional term. They report to the commission, but that five-member panel reports to the mayor. Neither of Bratton's two predecessors, Willie L. Williams and Bernard C. Parks, won a second term, and it mattered little whether the commissioners were justified in their decision. The mayor wanted the chiefs out, the commissioners wanted them out, so they were out.
