By Ana Figueroa NEWSWEEK

Dec. 9 issue — It’s war in Los Angeles. As feuding street gangs blaze gunfire, homicides have soared to more than 600 so far this year, even as killings decline in other big cities. Among the lives lost: a 14-year-old boy gunned down as he rode his bike in front of his home. L.A. cops, understaffed and overwhelmed, are struggling with morale problems. Frightened and angry residents, especially in the besieged South-Central neighborhoods, are crying out for help.

THE NEW cop in town, William J. Bratton, must now stem this horror. It is a tall order. Bratton is the brash former New York police commissioner who forged a reputation as a man who could mix both with street toughs and with high society. In New York, he presided over a steep decline in crime, before being forced out by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani after a battle of titanic egos. One thing is clear: Angelenos will forgive him the ego, and just about anything else, if he can bring down crime. But they are not going to be very patient. In one recent five-day period, the city saw an astonishing 16 homicides. With terror in their eyes, a group of shaken South-Central residents met recently with the new chief and demanded relief. One sobbing woman at a church meeting told Bratton: “Do whatever you would do to stop this war... do whatever you would do if you lived here.” Bratton, who once wrote an autobiography titled “America’s Top Cop,” says he welcomes the rage. “I need this city angry about gangbangers.” After rising from the ranks as a street cop in his native Boston, Bratton made a career as a police leader who showed little tolerance for the most minor offenses. It’s the “broken window” theory of police work: clamp down even on two-bit crime like graffiti and urinating in public, or an atmosphere of neglect will lead to more serious crime, the way weeds take over an untended lot. In Los Angeles, too, he has stressed such “quality of life” issues. But policing from the grass roots up can take time—and that’s something the besieged citizens of South-Central do not have a great deal of to give. In New York, Bratton relied on com-puter surveys of high-crime spots, then ordered his commanders to pour troops into those troubled areas. But in Los Angeles, Bratton will have fewer troops to de-ploy. Los Angeles has fewer than 30 police officers for every 10,000 residents, about half the ratio in New York. Moreover, the sprawling makeup of L.A. means the cops have much more ground to cover.

The Los Angeles Police Department is traditionally one of America’s most-storied crime-fighting forces, its work revered since no-nonsense detective Joe Friday was tracking down miscreants on “Dragnet.” But the LAPD image has sustained some deep bruises in recent years. Besides the Rodney King beating and the riots, there were embarrassing moments for the L.A. cops in the O. J. Simpson trial. More recently, the department was scandalized by corruption that included cases of planting evidence on suspects—police misdeeds that resulted in some 100 criminal convictions’ being overturned. Moreover, the appointment of Bratton, who is white, offended some of the city’s black leaders, who were angry about the dumping of former police chief Bernard Parks. To Los Angeles Urban League president John Mack, Bratton will need to overcome some skepticism. “It’s safe to say he won’t be getting a honeymoon,” says Mack. “More like a rude awakening.” But the bottom line is saving lives. The Rev. Leonard Jackson, a minister in South-Central who attended Bratton’s community forum, says the chief will be judged by the results. “If he can bring down crime,” says Jackson, “he can be a hero.” Like a lot of ministers in L.A. these days, he’s weary of presiding over funerals. © 2002 Newsweek, Inc.

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2002