Bratton Promotes 3 to Top Positions

Signaling his first major change of leadership at the Los Angeles Police Department, Police Chief William J. Bratton said Friday he will promote a veteran commander who worked with him in Boston, an experienced Latino commander and a woman who headed the transit police to be his top aides.

Cmdr. James P. McDonnell, who has been with the LAPD for 21 years, will become assistant chief, second in command to Bratton.

Cmdr. George Gascon, who oversees the police academy, and Cmdr. Sharon Papa, the former head of the region’s transit police, will become deputy chiefs. All three were candidates for the chief position.

Bratton said he chose the trio based upon their loyalty to the department, ability to think “outside the box” and their leadership skills.

“I like people who are creative, who are risk takers, who are assertive and who are not afraid to advance ideas -- and all these three exhibit that,” he said.

Bratton said McDonnell, 45, who coordinates the department’s community policing program, will serve as his No. 2. In an interview, Bratton called McDonnell a friend of more than 20 years who shares his vision for the department and who wrote a 100-page plan for re-engineering the LAPD.

The son of Irish immigrants, McDonnell was born and raised in a working-class Boston neighborhood. He first met Bratton when they worked together in the city’s Police Department.

Papa, 44, was chief of the county transit police from 1990 to 1997 -- until it was absorbed by the LAPD. She is known for tough talk and leadership.

Gascon, 48, who heads the LAPD’s training group, won praise for introducing ethics-based programs. He was endorsed by the Latino and black officers’ associations in his bid for chief.

“I am very dependent on people I select to work with. As good as I might be,” Bratton said, “I am only as good as the people who work with me, and, certainly, I have been blessed with making good selections in the past.”

The appointments for many also signaled the end of the legacy of former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates. McDonnell, Papa and Gascon represent the first generation of leadership to rise since Gates’ 1992 retirement.

“The previous administration’s people were risk averse,” Bratton said. “I want people who are comfortable being in harm’s way.”

Police union President Mitzi Grasso hailed Bratton’s appointments as a welcome and necessary break from the past.

“We are so pleased,” Grasso said. “Each one of them comes from a different background and brings a different perspective from their policing experience. All of them are representative of newer creative thinking.”

McDonnell once worked as an intern for Bratton, who was then a lieutenant spearheading a new initiative known as the neighborhood responsive policing program, a precursor to community policing program he later established in New York City.

“It gave me an exposure to people’s predicaments that most don’t see,” McDonnell said of community policing. “It showed me there’s an opportunity if you take the time to work on community problems, that you can make the neighborhood better and improve the lives of the people living there.”

McDonnell said he came west because work opportunities were better, and the LAPD was known for professionalism and merit-based hiring.

In the LAPD, McDonnell has worked as a patrol officer and homicide detective, and he spent four years in the anti-gang unit and other administrative posts.

Gascon joined the LAPD in 1978. He commanded the Southeast Patrol Division, Southeast Operation Support Division and Harbor Area Patrol Division. In 2000, he was made responsible for education and training for new recruits, sworn officers and civilians. In that role, he drew widespread praise for introducing ethical considerations into police training.

A native of upstate New York, Papa began her career with Santa Monica Police Department and joined the transit police in 1981. Within two years, Papa was promoted to president of the transit police union and by 1990 was named the department’s chief.

Under her management, the department quadrupled in size in five years. She built up a specialized anti-graffiti unit and won the first federal community policing grant for transit police, employing tactics Bratton used to build New York City’s transit police force.

In 1997, the transit force merged with the LAPD, and three years later Papa was named the LAPD’s top spokeswoman.

“She is very courageous, very good with people and a wonderful selection,” said Grasso. “She’s a great pick, has wonderful people skills, is very approachable, a great problem-solver and not afraid to take on a problem.”

All three applied for the chief’s position this summer.

Among command rank officers who recently retired or have said they will soon leave the LAPD are Asst. Chiefs David Gascon and J.I. Davis, and Deputy Chief Willie Pannell.