New LAPD HQ Has Eye on L.A. Times

Los Angeles police Chief William J. Bratton today gave the news media a tour of his department's gleaming new headquarters at 100 W. First St. downtown. The 10-story box contains a media room with live streaming, a gym three times the size of the one at the circa-1955 Parker Center headquarters nearby, and Zen-like green space reminiscent of Japanese gardens.

Dennis Romero

Perhaps the Police Administration Building's biggest amenity, however, as Bratton quipped, is its proximity to the city's paper of record across the street. "It also allows us to keep a close eye on the L.A. Times," the chief said.

Indeed, the view of the Times building is commanding, and it seems like you could reach out and touch (or maybe collar is the word) its third-floor newsroom. But Bratton always played to the cameras more than to the ink-stained wretches of print, even if newspapers spent more time digging dirt on the Los Angeles Police Department.

When a reporter joked that Bratton has been "so shy when it comes to television cameras," the chief shot back: "We better hope my successor is not."

Bratton is leaving the department before he'll get to spend more than a few days in this much-needed, 500,000-square-foot structure, which is scheduled to open its doors Oct. 24. The $437 million building will house 2,300 LAPD personnel, consolidate many department offices that are spread out in leased facilities, and provide offices for -- yes -- news media, including the Los Angeles Times and City News Service's 24-hour staffing. It's like Spy vs. Spy, but in much edgier digs.