List Serve Message - March 2003 www.LAPDOnline.org The following is the monthly update for March 2003. I hope you find the information useful. I encourage you to continue to visit our Web site at www.LAPDOnline.org as it has grown to over 10,000 pages since its inception in 1998. CHIEF’S MESSAGE The 2003 Staff Officers’ Annual Retreat (SOAR) provided a vibrant and healthy discussion about the future of the LAPD and exceeded my expectations. The participants, including for the first time sworn and civilian union representatives, were enthused and excited about the opportunity to re-invigorate our organization and make fundamental changes in the way we do business. This year’s retreat established one important principle: the LAPD must be a team enterprise. It was an important step toward the transparent and participatory organization that I am working to establish. The biggest change to emerge from SOAR will be the organizational chart and chain of command structure. Those changes haven’t been finalized and budgeted, but I can provide an initial overview of how things are taking shape. Most enforcement operations will be grouped under Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell. The Deputy Chiefs in charge of the four geographic bureaus will be reporting to Chief McDonnell. Operations-Headquarters Bureau has been disbanded and its functions will now be divided between two new bureaus, each headed by a Deputy Chief, who will also report to Chief McDonnell. Deputy Chief Mike Hillmann heads Special Operations Bureau. It will absorb some of the functions currently performed by the Uniformed Services Group, including Metropolitan Division, and Air Support Division. Chief Hillmann will be able to maximize the impact of the Department’s superb special units and achieve goals of reducing crime, disorder, and fear in the geographic Areas. He will work closely with the Bureau Chiefs and the eighteen Divisional Captains. The new Detective Chief will have two important roles to play. The Detective Bureau will oversee most of the functions of the Detective Services Group, including Robbery- Homicide Division. The Detective Chief will oversee Narcotics Division, which is expected to expand considerably in our efforts to disrupt street gang narcotics activities. The Detective Chief will also lead a far-reaching reorganization of the detective function in the local areas. In the interests of decentralization and local accountability, Area detectives will continue to report to the Division. The Chief of Detectives will also oversee a reform of how their work is done, decreasing the volume of redundant paperwork, increasing the number and intensity of field investigations, and getting our highly trained and skilled detective force more proactively involved in arrests and crime prevention activities in the field. I am also seeking to expand the Homeland Security Operation. My old colleague John Miller will lead this newly created Bureau. He worked with me as a Deputy Commissioner in the NYPD and was one of the principal architects of the NYPD crime reduction strategies. John is a distinguished journalist, an expert on terrorism and the last U.S. reporter to interview Osama Bin Laden. Working closely with Commander Mark Leap, I expect they will significantly expand the size and functions of our anti-terrorism efforts. Assistant Chief George Gascón will serve as Chief of Support Services, in charge of personnel, training, and information and communications systems. Assistant Chief Sharon Papa will be Chief of Administrative Services, overseeing planning, management functions, budget, facilities and the critical Jail and Property Divisions. Consent decree functions will be grouped together in a Consent Decree Bureau headed by former Police Commissioner Gerald Chaleff. Internal Affairs will be led by a soon to be named Deputy Chief who will report directly to me. SOAR also provided the opportunity for crime strategy teams to report their findings. The teams are well along in finalizing their recommendations for more proactive and assertive policing designed to reduce the city’s crime rate. Re-engineering teams will soon be formed to begin putting together strategies to tackle the Department’s administrative problems. Union officials, sworn employees, civilian employees and outside experts will be invited to participate in these teams. SOAR is just the departure point in what I envision as a year of change that will re- invigorate the Department back into the fight to reduce crime. WILLIAM J. BRATTON Chief of Police To unsubscribe from this newsletter please click on this link http://listserv.lacity.org/cgi-bin/wa.exe?SUBED1=lapd_monthly&A=1