By my reckoning, among the top news stories of 2009 (behind the inauguration of President Barack Obama and the death of Michael Jackson, of course) was a local two-part event that shocked, angered, troubled and, ultimately, relieved Los Angeles residents — the going of LAPD Chief William Bratton and the coming of LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.

Bratton had come from the east seven years ago to head the Los Angeles Police Department, one of the most reviled law enforcement entities in the free world, and went immediately to work to eradicate that image. He was a crime-busting, reform-minded, community-oriented, ethnically sensitive dynamo who made one whale of a difference in this city. In fact, Bratton was the only difference in this city over the past seven years. Without him, Los Angeles would have been the same old, same old.

During Bratton’s tenure as chief, Angelenos basked in the sunshine of plummeting crime statistics, of a police force functioning as civilized human beings in compliance with a federally imposed consent decree, of residents working with the police instead of running from them in fear for their lives, of a police force that not only grew in size, but increased in ethnic diversity — and women.

We grew to love Bratton. We trusted him and he was the only city official who mattered. Heck, we were prepared to hoist him on our shoulders and proclaim him king — never mind the throng which merely wanted to elect him mayor!

And then he quit. On Aug. 5,  Bratton, who is probably the best poker player on the planet, stunned his colleagues, his commissioners, city officials and the citizenry when he announced he was quitting as police chief on Oct. 31 to accept a job with a New York-based security consulting firm. That announcement was a citywide bummer and put Angelenos in a deep funk for quite a while, until suddenly, people on my beat — South Los Angeles — started mentioning a new name: Charlie Beck.

Deputy Chief Charlie Beck was in command of South Bureau Operations when the light went on in everybody’s head about his being the logical choice to replace their beloved Bratton. Logical? Well, Beck, 56, had been on the LAPD force since 1978 and had risen through the ranks from reserve officer to officer to senior lead officer to sergeant to lieutenant to captain to commander to deputy chief, and finally appointed chief of police on Nov. 17, with most of this service having been rendered in South L.A. Apparently he and South L.A. knew each other well and held each other in high regard.

Residents’ pain of losing Bratton was relieved by thoughts of getting Beck. I asked some people, why? “Beck is good,” they said in a nutshell. “While Bratton was the architect of police reform, Beck was the implementer,” one particularly well-spoken community activist explained. “Beck delivered an improved police force right into our neighborhoods. He worked with us. He solved our crimes and treated us with respect. Whatever Bratton was trying to achieve, Beck was carrying it out.”

Beck appears to be the darling of the Black media and a colleague of mine said it’s because Beck is “approachable, straight forward and completely lacking in bull----.” She said, “If you ask Beck a question and he doesn’t know the answer, he’ll say ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out and get back to you’ — and he does!” (An attitude like that would make anybody a journalist’s darling!)

For his part, Beck told me he’s learned a lot of lessons in the many years he’s spent with the LAPD. “I was here during the bad times and I’ve help create the good times. I’ve played a significant role in changing policing in minority areas for the better,” Beck said. “I know for a fact that the police department must be with the community to fight crime and improve the quality of life for the people we serve.”

Beck’s leadership has loomed large in the indices that measure the performance of an effective police department, chief among which are crime statistics. Murders of all kind have been historically high in Los Angeles, but they have dropped steadily during the past seven years. For the year 2008, Los Angeles had 379 murders — and that was the city’s best year ever. As of midnight Monday, 310 murders had been committed in Los Angeles, that’s an 18.21 percent decline over 2008. If nothing really awful happens between now and New Year’s Day, the city is looking at 2009 as our new best year ever in regard to its most heinous crime statistic.

“Even though we’ve come a long way, I still think expectations for the LAPD are too low and I’m prepared to raise the bar,” the new chief said.

As former Chief Bratton was leaving to report to his new job in New York, he gave me his new cell number and told me to call him and activate the “Bat Signal” indicating he was needed in Los Angeles to fight the outbreak of kind of nefarious activity in the city. Like Batman returning to Gotham, Bratton said if I signaled him, he would come. Well, I don’t think I need the “Bat Signal.” We have Chief Beck. We’re good.