| William Joseph Bratton | |
|---|---|
Bill Bratton |
|
| Los Angeles Police Department | |
| Born October 6, 1947 | |
| Nickname | Bill |
| Place of birth | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Years of service | Boston PD: 1970–1990, 1991–1994 NYC Transit PD: 1990–1991 NYPD: 1994–1996 LAPD: 2002–2009 |
| Rank | Chief of Police |
| Awards | Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire: awarded on Sept. 11, 2009 by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.[1] |
| William J. Bratton | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 6, 1947 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Residence | Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California |
| Occupation | Police Chief |
| Employer | City of Los Angeles |
| Title | Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department |
| Term | 2002–2009 |
| Predecessor | Martin H. Pomeroy |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Rikki Klieman, his fourth wife |
| Children | David Bratton |
William Joseph "Bill" Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American law enforcement officer who served as the chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), New York City Police Commissioner, and Boston Police Commissioner.
Bratton began his police career at Boston Police Department before becoming Police Commissioner in New York City, where his zero-tolerance policy has been credited with reducing petty and violent crime. He moved to Los Angeles Police Department in 2001 reforming the police after the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and crime was reduced.[2]
Bratton's policing style is influenced by the broken windows theory that if minor, petty crime is not dealt with, crime will increase.[3] He advocates having an ethnically diverse police force representative of the population[4], maintaining a strong relationship with the law-abiding population[5], tackling police corruption[3], being tough on gangs and a strict no-tolerance of anti-social behaviour.[6]
Bratton was approached by British Prime Minister David Cameron to become the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner in July 2011, but this was blocked by the Home Office on the grounds the Commissioner must be a British national with experience of English law.[7] Bratton instead was offered an advisor role to the British government which he accepted in August 2011.[8]
Contents |
Bratton is native to the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Boston Technical High School, graduating in 1965. From there, he served in the Military Police Corps of the United States Army during the Vietnam War, returning to Boston in 1970 to start a police career in the Boston Police Department. He quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant, and in 1980, at the age of 32 and ten years after his appointment to the BPD, Bratton was named as the youngest-ever Executive Superintendent of the Boston Police, the department's second highest post. He was dismissed as executive superintendent after he told a journalist that his goal was to be the Police Commissioner. He was reassigned to the position of Inspector of Bureaus, a sinecure which was responsible for liaison with minority and LGBTQ communities. He was later brought back into police headquarters to handle labor relations and 911 related issues.
Between 1983 and 1986 Bratton was Chief of Police for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, following which he became Superintendent of Boston's Metropolitan District Commission Police. In 1990, he was appointed Chief of Police of the New York City Transit Police. Bratton was Superintendent in Chief of the Boston Police Department from 1991 until 1993, then he became that city's 34th Police Commissioner. He holds the Department's highest award for valor.
Bratton became the chief of the New York City Transit Police Department in 1990. In 1991 the Transit Police gained national accreditation under the chief. The Department became one of only 175 law-enforcement agencies in the country and only the second in New York State to achieve that distinction. The following year it was also accredited by the State of New York, and by 1994, there were almost 4,500 uniformed and civilian members of the Department, making it the sixth largest police force in the United States. Bratton had left the NYC Transit Police returning to Boston in 1991 to head the Boston Police Department, a long-time ambition of his.
In 1994, William Bratton was appointed the 38th Commissioner of the NYPD by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. He cooperated with Giuliani in putting the broken windows theory into practice. He had success in this position, and introduced the CompStat system of tracking crimes, which proved successful in reducing crime in New York City and is still used to this day. A new tax surcharge enabled the training and deployment of around 5,000 new better-educated police officers, police decision-making was devolved to precinct level, and a backlog of 50,000 unserved warrants was cleared. The CompStat real-time police intelligence computer system was effectively introduced and integrated. Police numbers were further boosted in 1995 when New York's housing and transit police were merged into the New York Police Department.
Bratton resigned in 1996, while under investigation by the Corporation Counsel for the propriety of a book deal that he signed while in office as well as accepting multiple unauthorized trips from corporations and individuals. These were offenses considered minor by many (Giuliani later allowed subsequent Commissioner Bernard Kerik to be let off with a slap on the wrist after nearly identical offenses). Front and center however, were alleged personal conflicts with Giuliani, partly due to Giuliani's opposition to some of Bratton's reforms and partly due to Giuliani's belief that Bratton was getting more credit for the reduction in crime than Giuliani was.[9]
The experiences of Bratton and New York Deputy Police Commissioner Jack Maple were used as the inspiration of the television series The District.
Bratton worked as a private consultant with Kroll Associates, also known as LAPD's Independent Monitor,[10] until his appointment by Mayor of Los Angeles James Hahn as the LAPD's 54th Chief of Police in October 2002. Bratton was one of three candidates recommended to Hahn by the Los Angeles Police Commission under Commission President Rick J. Caruso.[11]Under Bratton's tenure, crime within the city dropped for six consecutive years.[12] On June 19, 2007, the LA Police Commission reappointed William Bratton to a second five-year term, the first reappointment of an LAPD chief in almost twenty years. Bratton has been criticized for his extensive travel; in 2005, he was out of town for a full third of the year on both official and personal business.[13]
In March 2009, Councilman Herb Wesson proposed an amendment[14] to the City Charter, allowing Bratton to serve a third consecutive term as Police Chief.
In Chapter 8 of Punishing the Poor (published by Duke University Press) sociologist Loic Wacquant summarizes the evidence that Bratton's strategies did not lead to a drop in crime in New York City.
On September 11, 2009, he was awarded with the honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II "in recognition of his work to promote cooperation between US and UK police throughout his distinguished career."[15] On 12 August 2011, Bratton said he was in talks with the British Government to become an advisor on controlling the violence that had affected London the prior week. He said he received a phone call from U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, and that he will continue speaking with British officials to formalize an agreement.[16] Prime Minister Cameron initially wanted to appoint Bratton Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service, but was overruled by Home Secretary Theresa May, who insisted that only a British citizen should be able to run the Service.[17][18]
On August 5, 2009, Bratton announced that after nearly seven years he would be stepping down as chief of police for the City of Los Angeles, and he continued to serve as chief until October 31, 2009.[19] Bratton moved back to New York City to take a position with private international security firm Altegrity Risk International, serving as a Chairman of a new division where he would consult on security for police departments worldwide.[20]
Bratton became the Chairman of Kroll, one of Altegrity, Inc.’s three core businesses, on 16 September 2010.[21] Mr. Bratton had joined Altegrity in November 2009.
In New York, Bratton adopted a zero tolerance policing policy from 1990. This manner of policing has won plaudits and criticism[22], but the implementation of zero tolerance policy coincided with a reduction of petty and serious crime in New York by 2001.
Bratton has stated that racial tensions and distrust of the police are hindrances to reducing crime. Bratton's solution in New York and Los Angeles was to make police forces more ethnically diverse and "reflect[ive of] the ethnic make-up of the cities."[4]
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement from the University of Massachusetts Boston and was a research fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Bratton has been married four times.
Bratton is married to attorney and TruTV analyst Rikki Klieman, and has one son, David, from a prior marriage. Bratton was also formerly married to attorney and newscaster Cheryl Fiandaca.
In 1998, Random House published his memoir TURNAROUND: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic, written with co-author Peter Knobler. It was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Bratton addressed the Roger Williams University graduating class at the May 22, 2010 commencement ceremony and also received an honorary degree during the ceremony.[23]
William Bratton & Peter Knobler. Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic. Random House, 1998.
| Police appointments | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by N/A |
Executive Superintendent of the Boston Police Department 1980-1982 |
Succeeded by N/A |
| Preceded by N/A |
Chief of Police - Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police Department 1983-1986 |
Succeeded by Thomas P. Maloney |
| Preceded by Thomas Keough |
Superintendent of the Boston Metropolitan District Commission Police 1986-1990 |
Succeeded by N/A |
| Preceded by N/A |
Chief of Police/Senior Vice President for the New York City Transit Authority Police Department 1990-1991 |
Succeeded by N/A |
| Preceded by Joseph V. Saia, Jr. |
Superintendent in Chief of Boston Police Department 1991-1993 |
Succeeded by Paul F. Evans |
| Preceded by Francis Roache |
Commissioner of the Boston Police Department 1993-1994 |
Succeeded by Paul F. Evans |
| Preceded by Raymond W. Kelly |
NYPD Commissioner 1994-1996 |
Succeeded by Howard Safir |
| Preceded by Martin H. Pomeroy |
Chief of Los Angeles Police Department 2002-2009 |
Succeeded by Michael P. Downing |
|
|||||||||||||||||