NEW CHIEF'S FIRST STEPS

THE new Metro Louisville police chief continues to impress.

Chief Robert White has been taking every opportunity, and a number of
different opportunities, to learn what Louisville is all about, from tours
of town to stops in barbershops.

He has made convincing efforts to get past surface appearances and find out
how the city works, who makes it work and what might make its police force
work better.

In a way this is not surprising. Jerry Abramson, in the run-up to his
election as metro mayor, concentrated furiously on finding the best
qualified leader available. Chief White is the product of a broad, deep search.

He wants to decentralize, moving a large number of officers into 10 patrol
districts where they can size up, and seize upon, opportunities for better
policing and tighter community connections.

He knew, given the racial issues bearing on use of force by local police,
that the usual critics would carefully scrutinize his choice of 16 top
commanders, ready to accuse him of too little or too much attention to
race. As things turned out, two of the 16 are African American, a number
that some activists considered not enough.

That too-easy, by-the-numbers reckoning of relentless naysayers simply
doesn't suffice in this instance. The chief had to choose from among the
candidates at hand, with whom he has put together a promising team.

The next challenge is to create a bigger base from which to choose in the
future.

Some of the same critics insist that internal review doesn't work -- that
police can't and won't take the initiative and thoroughly investigate
themselves.

That view can't be reconciled with the case of former narcotics officers
Mark Watson and Christie Richardson, both of whom now have been brought to
justice as a result of self-scrutiny by police officials.

The investigation of this spectacular police corruption debacle began when
Mr. Watson's supervisors started looking into discrepancies in pay he was
alleged to have received for court appearances. Later, based on review by
the Police Executive Research Forum, changes were made in the operations of
the Metro Narcotics unit.

Critics and, more important, Louisvillians in general, should recognize
that Chief White is off to a quick and good start. It's bound to take a
little time to get where he's headed.