William Bratton — City Hall’s most popular figure — 
quit suddenly today, leaving the mayor without his most effective political cover.
The Times reported Bratton will “take over as head of a private security firm.” He intends to stay until October.
Insiders heard he will join the international police consulting firm Altegrity Inc. based in Falls Church, Va. The CEO is Michael Cherkasky, a close Bratton ally who served as monitor of the LAPD’s recently ended federal court consent decree.
The City Hall rumor mill was on fire that there is a troubling back story to the chief’s resignation involving information that grew out of CIty Attorney Carmen Trutanich’s investigation of the Michael Jackson funeral case. Sources said Trutanich stumbled across information in the course of that investigation that could prove embarrassing to the chief.
Bratton recently put his Los Feliz house up for sale but denied it was with the intention of leaving LA.
The Daily News reported he is expected to discuss his plans at a
midday City Hall news conference, which will be attended by Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa.
City
Council President Eric Garcetti said he spoke to Bratton Monday
night. “He did confirm that, for personal and professional reasons, he
thinks this is a good time, that things are in good hands, that there’s
no negative reason at all for him leaving.”
That idiot Trutanich has made his worst move yet in his brief one-month disastrous career, driving the Chief out of the city. His public criticism of LAPD the day after the Jackson funeral events, before any “embarrassing information” could have come to light — while everyone else, except of course Zine, was praising LAPD for its excellent handling of the event, and preventing what could have been millions in lawsuits from even one incident — was a disgusting case of grandstanding and voodoo math. Telling Council in what you called “the best 2 minutes in public comment history” that it cost $10,000 per person to police the crowd outside Staples, as though that’s all there were to it, as though keeping the expected crowds away hadn’t prevented a crowd control problem… etc.
Then this endless battle from Smith, with Zine and Parks, over the movie cop uniform thing and “Bratton’s ego.” A pyrric “victory.” When Smith replaced Jack Weiss, his staunchest supporter on Council, the council voted against increasing the LAPD to the 10,000 goal, claimed the trash fee hikes for 1000 cops were never meant for that, no sign of the Phone Tax S towards LAPD (or is it being used to test the rape kit backlog — a commitment Weiss got out of Council right before leaving?) – nothing but hassles for Bratton. On the plus side as Joel Rubin notes, he oversaw lifting the Consent Decree, but would he have left if not for all this other drama? I think he’d have stayed.
However, didn’t Bratton put his house on the market over a month ago, although he denied he was moving then? Maybe he’d been mulling it over, and all these little bullies coming at him from different directions, openly attacking his “ego,” combined with lack of funding to expand the force, made him want to go where he’d be appreciated and could build something again. If you’re right, Ron, that job sounds like he’d be well-positioned to head HS if Napolitano leaves or needs a Second in Command?
It will be incredibly difficult to replace Bratton. I’m focusing my hate on Parks today.
You are aware that Crime rates are going down across the country and there is nothing extraordinary about what is happening to crime rates in LA. Maybe he won’t be so difficult to replace after all.
Actually KK, I thought that because of the bad economy, crime rates were UP across the country. So I think that what Bratton has done here over the past 7 years (having nothing to do with the current economy) is phenomenal. He won’t be easily replaced.
From the LA Times, June 2, 2009:
“The vast majority of large cities across California saw declines in both violent and property crimes last year — though there were several communities that bucked the trend.
Of the 65 cities with more than 100,000 residents, 45 saw drops in violent crime, while 52 cities had fewer property crimes when factoring in population changes in 2008, a Times analysis of FBI preliminary crime statistics for 2008 shows.
Los Angeles saw a 4% drop in violent crime per capita, according to FBI preliminary statistics released Monday for 2008. That decline echoed across the state, with a 3.9% drop per capita in violent crimes, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, compared with 2007. Property crime in L.A. fell slightly.
In San Diego, there was a 5.3% drop in violent crime and a 9.4% drop in property crime.
That was far better than the rest of the nation. The FBI says violent crime nationwide declined by 2.5% last year and property crimes by 1.6%. The western region of the country saw the biggest declines, with a 4.2% drop in property crime and a 3.4% drop in violent crime.
Some suburban cities recorded increases in crime — though in some cases, the raw numbers remain fairly small.
Costa Mesa saw violent crimes increase nearly 37% — the most of any big city in the state. But like many of the cities experiencing increases, that was based on a relatively small number of incidents. Huntington Beach was one of the few cities to post increases in both violent and property crimes.
In El Monte, violent crimes last year rose 17.7% over the previous year. In Santa Clarita, the number of violent crimes also climbed 11.2%, and Ventura saw its violent crime jump 9% in 2008. But other suburban cities saw big drops in crime.
Murrieta posted the largest drop in per-capita violent crime in the state last year — about 30% — making it the second safest large city in California in terms of violent crime. It also posted the largest decline in property crimes per capita, at 28.3%. In Los Angeles County, Palmdale led the way in 2008 with a 17.6% drop in violent crimes, followed by Pasadena with a 16% decline in 2008.
Irvine remained the safest large city in the state for violent crime per capita, followed by Murrieta, Thousand Oaks, Sunnyvale and Simi Valley in 2008. The most violent city on a per-capita basis remained Oakland, followed by Stockton, Richmond, Sacramento and San Bernardino. L.A. and Long Beach ranked 14th and 15th on the worst per-capita violent crimes, with both seeing a 30-year low in homicides.
FBI officials say nationwide, murder and manslaughter dropped 4.4% in 2008. Aggravated assault declined 3.2%, rape decreased 2.2% and robbery dropped 1.1%.”
richard.winton@latimes.com
doug.smith@latimes.com
one rat gone more to go
city hall are all crooks and liars
So let’s recap, in a very few short weeks/days:
Trutanich announced an investigation of MJax scandal with possible criminal aspects at city council.
Bratton was selling home and bothers to say publicly that he’s not moving out of LA (So why fib? Or change up so fast?)
Word starts circulating amoung city hall insiders and some media insiders that Trutanich is looking at problems that could cast a bad light on Bratton. Was it call/s by Bratton maybe to Staples bigwigs about AEG MJax death celeb blowout? (can the CD/movie deal be far behind?)
Federal LAPD consent decree overseer and FOB Cherkasky plays a major role in getting Feds to pull consent decree.
Bratton announces he will jump LA’s listing ship in the middle of a major fiscal crisis to go global, playing rent a cop for his old pal, the very recently “free to recruit him” (by Cherkasky’s own account on KPPC) now ex federal overseer Cherkasky. These guys let no grass grow under them.
When was the last time a top cop quit such a high profile job in one of the world’s largest, most famous cities so suddenly and so hush hush, for any reason other than a scandal? Quick, the clock is ticking come up with one in our recent collective memory, okay go back even further…
This is just not a credible tale. He quits, all of a sudden, with no warning, after saying he wasn’t going anywhere and getting a contract renewal. He’s doing to become a rent a cop? Even a high priced global rent a cop. We are expected to believe this? This does not pass the sniff test.
So called reporters are tossing him softball “interviews” while he prattles on and on about how great he is, most LA big wigs are throwing bouquets, what is going on? The only person i heard on the media today who raised a discouraging word was Ramona Rupston of the ACLU. She rather carefully questioned this sudden series of “events” with Cherkasky in a KPCC interview. Could it be that our Ramona is getting faint whiff of a rat, or at least a smelly deal…well she’s sure smelled enough of them in her many years in the midst of LA poli-tricks.
What are the deals? A deal to end a major consent decree so Cherkasky can slurp up big contracts with best guy pal Bill? How might that deal have worked out and exactly why right now?
A deal to hush up a possible career tarnishing investigation by a brash new Republican City Attorney? Is that the political classic fix of resign now and we will close the files as we close the door behind you?
Remember that LA cop Harry Bosh doesn’t believe in coincidences in murder. (Harry may be fictional – but fiction is more real than reality in this town). We don’t believe in coincidences in politics, especially in police politics in LA.
Is there a deal for the next top cop? What’s the name of that game? Who knows the most at Parker Center and is the best at leveraging it? Is it the rise of the Irish? (With a nod to Betty Pleasant).
So what’s the deal, deal or no deal? Are we going to bring Monty Hall back from retirement to host this?
Who’s on the phone with those San Francisco media people who keep breaking the news that the Zell-A Times Chicago Irish (them again) regime won’t touch?
Where’s Antonio? It’s tough when you are the only guy on the planet who doesn’t know that cell phones work overseas.
What does Sarah Palin think of this? She’s the only one running against Bratton and company for fishiest smelling resignation award.
Maybe Palin could co host with Monty. I’m sure there’s a cheesy TV show in her future anyway, and this would be a great a start.
At least Bratton knew better than to say he just wants to spend more time with his family – but he did edge into that territory on channel 9 tonight.
So what’s next? A deal to have the Cirque acrobats put out our sure to come bumper crop of summer fires out while hanging upside down from the fire hoses of the cut back LAFD, between shows at the Kodak Montreal Theater?
Okay, Bratton did a good job, and he was the first person to tell us so. But what’s really BEHIND the statistics? If crime is down 5% citywide, as an example, what does that MEAN? Were there 400 less robberies or 4? This is the problem with Bratton’s math. It can EASILY be manipulated to mean anything he wants it to mean! Without the raw data and the real numbers, it means VERY little. Just like calling those CRIMINALS who rioted and looted after the Lakers won ‘a few hoodlums,’ when most people anywhere near downtown were TERRIFIED. It’s all spin and fuzzy math with this guy.
Friends downtown are basically prisoners in their own homes lately, as the drug dealing has gotten out of control..and this was before the horrific murder of Lily Burke. I don’t know ANYBODY who feels that LA is safer these days.
Lila is right. If crime is down in L.A. it’s because of fuzzy math and cooked books.
Conveniently forgotten and never mentioned in the press is that Bratton changed crime catagories, making serious crimes look as if they are less serious.
For him and the mayor to say that L.A. is as safe or safer than it’s been in 50 years is a total lie, but then lying comes easily to Bratton.
Just think about all the scare tactic lies he told to back up Villaraigosa’s lies in TV ads to get us to vote ‘yes’ on ballot measures that were in our own worst interests.
While he might have done a couple of good things as chief, like all ego-driven despots who don’t play well with others, the couple of good things he did don’t make up for all the bad things…like lying! Like telling a caller to McIntyre in the Morning that if the caller did like the way Bratton did things, the caller could damn well move to another place.
That showed that he has about as much respect for the honest citizens in L.A. as the City Council has during public comments.
Now that he’s announced his “quitterness,” Bratton, be-gone, and don’t wait until October.
He can’t get out of town fast enough to suit me.
TO: Anonymous on August 5, 2009 10:59 AM
That idiot Trutanich has made his worst move yet in his brief one-month disastrous career …
Then this endless battle from Smith, with Zine and Parks, over the movie cop uniform thing and “Bratton’s ego.” A pyrric “victory.”When Smith replaced Jack Weiss, his staunchest supporter on Council, …
YOU ARE JACK WEISS. THERE’S NOTHING WORSE THAN A SORE LOSER.
Federal LAPD consent decree overseer and FOB Cherkasky plays a major role in getting Feds to pull consent decree.
Bratton announces he will jump LA’s listing ship in the middle of a major fiscal crisis to go global, playing rent a cop for his old pal, the very recently “free to recruit him” (by Cherkasky’s own account on KPPC) now ex federal overseer Cherkasky. These guys let no grass grow under them.
Cha-CHING! Winner! Winner!
7:54, the truth is embarrassing, isn’t it? What’s even more ludicrous and shows their/your people’s utter lack of self-awareness, is that when Zine/ Trutanich/ Berger/Moore/ Kevin James aren’t jumping up and down and playing the Hallelujah Chorus and “taking credit for” “Ratton’s” departure, “we’re running another one out of town!” they’re blaming it on “the gangbanger Mayor.” It’s a public service to tell the truth and expose this clique as the real “cockroaches under the rug” they love to talk about as eradicating — many people and media are waking up to the truth of Chick’s words.
Timing is everything. The Chief is leaving with some dramatic numbers in his favor. Violent crimes are down and sworn-in officers are up on his watch. Now, the courts have ruled that 43,000 inmates must be released over a two year period. This will result in more criminals roaming the streets of LA and doing what they were locked up for in the first place — committing crimes. Bratton is getting out of town just in the nick of time, before the bad guys get their “get out of jail free” cards. Does this make him a courageous leader or…?
2:40: repeating the totally fabricated spin of rightwing radio ranters like Doug and especially Kevin James, who’s so far to the right even Doug thinks so. Yeah sure, Bratton’s running from the violent criminals about to ruin his stats!
James and the Noochies are desperately spinning how Bratton had nothing to do with anything anyway, that it was all Steve Cooley. Right. The guy who let Jamiel Shaw, Jr’s murderer and an illegal immigrant to boot, out on a plea bargain without checking his immigration status — then he and James try to pin that on Bratton who has nothing to do with the County jail or Espinoza and his felonies.
Samuels, who murdered Lily Burke after he pulled an identical kidnap-in-car-force-victim-to-get-money-from ATM job in 86 (but that time the victim was able to get money and survived) would have been in jail now if Cooley had prosecuted him under the 3-strikes law, instead of ignoring his felonies and prosecuting him under just the last crime, a misdemenor.
And let’s not forget to add to Cooley’s accomplishments that husband he let out of jail, arrested for vi0lating a restraining order for trying to kill his wife, over the desperate pleas of his wife and he killed her next day. This was week before his last election, see LAT 6/4/06 (or 05?), but he had his office cover it up unitl AFTER the election, during which week he stayed home with “a bad head cold.” Isn’t conspiring to commit that sot of fraud a felony?
Miki, Brilliant…simply brilliant!
Well, if it isn’t the loser Mary (I sue for a living) C. over here since she can’t post on Mayor Sam.
How does it feel to have the whole town hate you MC? Are you still feeling “attractive”? You’ve been kicked off of every blog in L.A. recently. Do you really want to start anything here?
Go try and neuter a squirrel or something.
So Mary (I sue for a living) C. gets kicked off of one blog and comes over here.
Hey, you’re a loser. Nobody wants to hear from you.
Go try and neuter a squirrel or something, loser.
You made some good points there, I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your blog.
Certainly, I don’t go along with a point or two although the remainder seems professional.
Excellent job.