Defending significant changes in how it punishes officers, LAPD officials told the civilian Police Commission on Tuesday that a disciplinary system that gives supervisors greater discretion will better hold cops accountable for misconduct.

The system, slowly being implemented by Deputy Chief Mark Perez over the past year, is guided by the principles of changing behavior with warnings for first-time offenses. It relies on character development rather than punishment.

"The history of the LAPD has been too much focused on the process of the personnel complaint ... and they miss the essence of the event," Perez told the commission. "'Why did this happen? What is the cause and how do we change this?' And that is the focus of the department: Change the causes."

Perez warned that the new effort is still unfolding and that some discipline might not show up in annual audits, but he assured the commission that it is improving department morale and will help change bad behavior.

"This new approach does not replace the need sometimes to, in fact, discipline people," said Commissioner John Mack, a longtime civil-rights leader who asked that Perez return in six months to report on how the changes have affected discipline. "The idea is that we want that to be a last option versus the first option."

Critics charged that the greater discretion given to supervisors could open the way for abuse, and said the department's reliance on warnings instead of complaints could mean less public scrutiny.

Under the system, senior supervisors are now looking at why officers acted outside of policy and for the first time explicitly stating on reprimands the punishment an officer will face if he repeats the offense, Perez said.

LAPD Chief William Bratton has also begun to outline his punishment recommendations for officers facing a Board of Rights hearing. Before, the three-person panel that would decide an officer's fate would only be notified of the allegations by the department, but not the recommended punishment.

Most of the commission expressed optimism about its implementation.

"This change reflects a level of confidence the commission has in the chief and the command staff," Commissioner Robert Saltzman said.