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E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version August 17, 2005, 8:08 a.m. Bratton? No. The police chief has some work to do before the rank-and-file will want him back. Once again, I have a bone to pick with the Los Angeles Times. In an editorial in Sunday's edition, the Times made the early case for retaining William Bratton as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department when his five-year contract expires in 2007. Bratton may indeed prove deserving of another term when the time comes, but for now many LAPD officers are unpersuaded. Granted, when compared to...

WHY would anyone want to become a police officer when even self- defense is now deemed "excessive force" and "racist?" Those charges have been hurled at Los Angeles police officers, who, on July 10, shot to death 19-month-old Suzie Marie Pena -- because her father Jose Raul Pena held the child as a human shield as he fired a stolen semiautomatic handgun toward police. Pena had wounded one officer during a 2 1/2-hour standoff. What's more, police had managed to rescue Suzie Marie's 17-year-old sister, who had called the police because Pena was threatening her, and he did fire his...

LOS ANGELES - A 13-year-old boy had marijuana in his blood when police shot him to death in February after he backed a stolen vehicle into a patrol car, the county coroner reported Friday. Blood samples taken from Devin Brown's body showed he had large amounts of the drug in his bloodstream, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, citing a toxicology report. Brown was shot at about 4 a.m. on Feb. 6 as he rammed a stolen Toyota Camry into a patrol car following a chase. Officer Steve Garcia fired 10 shots at the car. Brown suffered at...

LOS ANGELES - The police chief on Friday fired an officer who was videotaped last year beating a suspected car thief with a flashlight. Police Chief William Bratton agreed with last month's recommendation by the department's Board of Rights that John Hatfield be dismissed for using unnecessary force. Hatfield struck the suspect 11 times with a flashlight after a high-speed chase on June 23, 2004. The suspect, Stanley Miller, was down on the ground, with officers swarming around him, when Hatfield hit him. Hatfield, who is Hispanic, was videotaped by television news cameras hitting Miller, who is black. No other...

LOS ANGELES - The city's police commission Tuesday cleared the way for Chief William Bratton to equip officers with lighter flashlights following last year's beating of a suspected car thief. Lighter flashlights would be "in the best interest of the department, in the best interest of the city," Bratton said. The civilian panel's vote allowing Bratton to select new flashlights came after Officer John Hatfield pummeled motorist Stanley Miller last June with a standard-issue flashlight. The beating led to widespread objections to using the device as a weapon. Shortly after, Bratton began reviewing a series of flashlights on the market...