A nod to laobserved for catching this one. Los Angeles Police Chief Wililam Bratton is touted as "the most influential crime fighter in recent history" in the February issue of Playboy, on sale starting today.

Joe Domanick, a long-time chronicler of the nation's second-largest police force in the nation, pens the piece with the headline "Supercop."

Bratton is rumored to be on the short list to head the Department of Homeland Security or the FBI in a Hillary Clinton administration. He’s so influential that his archnemesis, former New York City mayor and now Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani—the man who fired him—twice made pilgrimages to L.A. last year in thinly veiled attempts to neutralize Bratton in the 2008 elections. laobserved.com

In 2004, I shadowed Bratton for a story of the 12-hour day in the life of the celebrity chief.

The day started at 7:45 a.m. at KTLA studios where Bratton was making a pitch for the half cent sales tax for more cops. Here's an excerpt from that piece, a look inside the chief's office at Parker Center:

His sixth-floor office in Parker Center is filled with police memorabilia: shiny New York City police badges displayed in boxes; baseball caps; British police-style bobby hats; toy police cars.

Bratton picks up a 1954 book called ``Your Police,'' about the New York Police Department. He used to check the book out from the Boston Library as a kid. Now a tattered copy sits on a shelf next to his meeting table. It cemented his views about becoming a cop.

On the floor next to a leather executive sofa sit several framed magazine covers such as Time and other general interest newsmagazines and assorted trade magazines that feature him on the cover. Assorted books about crime fighting line the shelves, along with pictures of Theodore Roosevelt.

On one wall is a shadow box with a photo of Theodore Roosevelt and a quote, ``The Best Executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling.''

On another shelf are photos of Bratton shaking hands with FBI Director Robert Mueller. Bratton with the elder President Bush. Photos of his wife, trial attorney and Court TV anchor Rikki Klieman, hang prominently above his desk.