Chief's travels

Police chief Bill Bratton, a favorite of the New York tabloids, has been out of the city for 128 days since the start of 2003, the Daily News toted up in a package in Sunday's paper. The absences were for a mix of police and personal business, but about the latter, Bratton says it's private so shut up.

"If the city is suffering so much from my absence, they should suffer some more because I think we're doing pretty well here," Bratton said, citing the 22 percent drop in homicides during his first full year as chief and 6 percent reduction in overall violent crime.

"I have a lot of travel planned in the future. Get used to it."

The story quotes some unidentified LAPD brass saying the chief's absences have affected management of the department, and former chief Bernard Parks says: "You can't run the department and not be here. It's that simple."