LA Police Chief William Bratton has launched the department's first internal probe since he assumed the top cop job.

The probe concerns possible mishandling of tips about faith healers after a man being treated for a rash went into convulsions and died.

Bratton said that he recently received information that "the department's narcotics division had received tips about suspicious injections as far back as May 2001, but failed to investigate. The tips continued over the past 18 months, he said."

"I'm concerned, very concerned, about how the tip was handled, and I have many questions," said Bratton, who was publicly sworn in Monday. "We are going to try to convince the public of our sincere interest in determining what went wrong so that those mistakes are not made again."

For more on the challenges facing the new police chief, read today's Washington Post article, LA's New Top Cop.