It's time for an update on LA Police Chief William Bratton. The LA Times reports that the LAPD is trying a softer touch in its approach to gang violence in South Central LA. While not everyone in the community agrees, we continue to give Bratton high marks:

Chastened by a history of aggressive tactics that backfired, Los Angeles police are trying a softer, more sophisticated approach in their latest efforts to crack down on gang-related street violence. They are being more careful about whom they go after, they say, and more mindful of how they are perceived.

As Police Chief William J. Bratton rolls out new programs designed to suppress violence in time for the summer's hottest months, he says people should notice a change....

With respect to some recent raids,

Rather than saturate neighborhoods with police to intimidate gangs — tactics that once earned the LAPD a reputation for indiscriminate harassment and the moniker of an occupying army — officers tried to tread lightly this time.
They carried warrants — zeroing in on only a few individuals rather than conducting mass sweeps — and tried to show more consideration for law-abiding residents. They tried to do more explaining and display more courtesy.

The new way, Chief Bratton said, is for anti-gang tactics to be more focused. "We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past and line up every black and Latino kid against a wall just because they are dressed like a gang member," he said.