LAPD WATCH : Moving On Out

There’s no question. In the months and years to come the LAPD is likely to lose talented officers because there is little room at the top. That lack of mobility is a common problem at big city departments that need the best help they can get--and keep--to protect and serve.

Los Angeles is certainly losing a good one in Deputy Police Chief William Rathburn, although no one can blame him for accepting the top job at the Dallas Police Department.

And Dallas is lucky indeed to be getting him. In Los Angeles this 27-year veteran earned high marks for battling gangs and developing community support for the department. And in 1984 he shined as head of LAPD security at the Olympics--running a widely praised operation while reassuring the larger community by playing up precautions and downplaying threats.

Rathburn most recently headed the LAPD’s South Bureau, which covers several hard-core areas of South-Central Los Angeles, Watts and the harbor district. During his three years in that post, Rathburn worked hard to control gang-related homicides, encouraged community programs and impressed black leaders with his creative and sensitive approach to law enforcement.

Rathburn had been promoted earlier this month to head the department’s famous Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and the Bureau of Investigations, which includes all narcotics units. But he based his decision to leave in part on his assessment that he may never have a shot at the chief’s job.