Bratton vows city will be safer

On the eve of beginning his second term, Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton predicted Wednesday that crime in the city would continue to decline unless budget cuts prevent him from launching several initiatives.

In an interview, Bratton said he planned to expand homicide investigation teams, initiate programs to battle street gangs, and divide the San Fernando Valley into two command zones that would make it easier to manage the growing number of officers being sent there.

The city is divided into four bureaus headed by deputy chiefs. But the Valley Bureau, a vast command covering about 224 square miles, comprises 1.4 million people and is significantly larger than any other patrol area.

Bratton’s first five-year term was marked by a 36% decline in murders and a 31% drop in all serious crimes, rates reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s.

On occasion, the chief has been hesitant to promise continuing steep declines unless the Los Angeles Police Department was greatly expanded. He has often referred to Los Angeles as the nation’s most under-policed big city.

But over the last year his 9,500-member force has grown by 300 under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s drive to expand the LAPD by at least 1,000 officers.

Possibly for that reason, Bratton’s comments on the future Wednesday sounded considerably bolder. “Act 2 is going to better than Act 1,” the chief said. “Crime is going to continue to go down. . . . You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Bratton cautioned, however, that budget woes -- including a threatened loss of a telephone users tax now being challenged in court -- have created uncertainty. “I do not want to really start planning for new initiatives when I don’t know if I will have money basically to maintain current initiatives,” the chief said.

But he said that barring financial cuts, he wanted the Valley Bureau to be split into two sections for better command and control.

“I want to create a second bureau in the Valley. It is getting so big that [Deputy Chief] Mike Moore effectively has eight commands out there. It is getting too big with the population growth in the Valley.”

The bureau currently includes the police divisions of West Valley, Van Nuys, Mission, Devonshire, Foothill, North Hollywood and Valley Traffic. Another station is slated to open next year.

Bratton did not reveal how he planned to divide the area.

With wildfires still lighting up the Southern California landscape, Bratton said his “absolute top priority” would be replacing the walkie-talkie radios issued to officers.

“Those things are now a significant safety hazard,” Bratton said. “They are now so old the manufacturer doesn’t make any spare parts for them.”

For years, the city has put off upgrading the radios, but now budget officials are “going to have to bite the bullet and spend $20 million to $25 million” for replacements.

“If we were to have a fire of the proportion that San Diego is dealing with or, God forbid, we’d have a civil disturbance. . . . You cannot have a Police Department that cannot communicate.”

Bratton said he also was working on a new gang initiative with a different focus than this year’s enforcement push that has shown results, particularly in the South Bureau area where gang murders are down by more than quarter.

The chief said he also planned to duplicate the department’s South Los Angeles consolidated gang homicide unit in central city neighborhoods such as Boyle Heights, Rampart and Highland Park.

At the same time, Bratton said, the department’s counter-terrorism unit has grown into one that stands above any other force, with the exception of the New York City Police Department.

richard.winton@latimes.com