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After nearly seven years on the job, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton announced his resignation last week, effective October 31st. Claiming to have made LA “one of the safest cities in America,” Bratton’s future job is the head of a private security firm in New York. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has remarked that he favors a replacement LAPD chief who would largely continue Bratton’s policies. The LAPD has long been stained by scandal, including the Rodney King beatings that sparked the 1992 riots, and an expose of corruption in the Rampart police department, leading to a consent decree with the US Department of Justice. The consent decree was meant to address issues of racial bias, corruption and police brutality. Just last month, a Federal judge ruled that oversight of the LAPD would be phased out over the next three years. According to Chief Bratton, the LAPD has come a long way in improving racial relations, in particular with African American and Latino populations. A major aspect of Bratton’s work has been to address LA’s gang violence, with the so-called Broken Windows approach. Earlier this year, Bratton and Villaraigosa unveiled an ambitious plan to fight gangs.

GUESTS: Joel Rubin, LA Times writer, Mirna SolorZano, interim Executive Director of Homies Unidos. For more information visit www.wearealex.com and www.homiesunidos.org.