In 18 years at the helm, Lynne Abraham has been an able administrator, a relentless crime fighter and a persistent and passionate advocate of victims' rights.

Her successor must be smart enough to adopt her best practices while coming up with new methods to deal with problems that we can't seem to resolve with traditional approaches.

That's why Seth Williams is our clear choice for district attorney.

He would build on the strong working relationships among the D.A., the police and the U.S. Attorney's Office. And he won't be hampered by the friction that sometimes exists between Abraham and criminal-court judges.

The next D.A. will have to hit the ground running, which makes Williams' 10 years of experience as a prosecutor and an administrator in the D.A.'s office invaluable.

The next D.A. will be running an office with 300 assistants and 250 support people who prosecute 70,000 criminal cases a year. He must do this with a budget that seems to be decreasing as fast as anxiety about crime increases.

In fact, his vow to find new ways for the key players in the criminal-justice system to work together - and for all of them to better interact with communities - should have great impact on the bottom line of fighting crime. An inefficient, closed-down system with little communication among its parts is an expensive way to pursue justice.

The city is beset by the twin woes of gun violence and drug trafficking. But the next D.A. must be mindful of a looming crisis caused by prison overcrowding and the rapid rise in the cost of criminal justice. One of every four city tax dollars goes to the criminal-justice system.

We believe Williams can meet that challenge without turning dangerous criminals loose.

Williams' approach to the plague of gun crimes reveals an important distinction between him and Michael Untermeyer, the GOP candidate.

Untermeyer's pledge of "zero tolerance" for gun-law violators resonates at a time when straw purchasers hide behind the tenets of the Second Amendment. His resolve to never plea-bargain gun cases sounds good. But he can't be much tougher than Abraham, whose approach has had only limited success.

Williams would expand the gun-trafficking task force to turn up the heat on defendants to disclose who sold them their guns. That may require some plea-bargaining.

But he would use the information to set up sting operations to go after the straw purchases. That seems to us a more efficient approach to battling gun crime.

Williams' experience as city inspector general should lead to a more vigorous approach to prosecuting municipal corruption than we saw during Abraham's tenure.

As I.G., he exposed a bribery scandal in the Water Department and spearheaded a probe that led to a former acting health commissioner's demotion.

We have concerns about administrative lapses in his campaign. We are troubled by his advocacy of a law that would count juvenile offenses for enhanced penalties under the "three-strikes" law.

But we have no reservations about our choice for D.A. We strongly urge you to elect Seth Williams.