William Bratton

Bill Bratton
Official portrait, 2022
Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council
Assumed office
August 18, 2020
Serving with Jamie Gorelick
PresidentDonald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byWilliam H. Webster
Vice Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council
In office
February 8, 2011 – August 18, 2020
PresidentBarack Obama
Donald Trump
Preceded byGary Hart
Succeeded byKaren Tandy
38th and 42nd New York City Police Commissioner
In office
January 1, 2014 – September 16, 2016
MayorBill de Blasio
Preceded byRaymond Kelly
Succeeded byJames P. O'Neill
In office
January 1, 1994 – April 15, 1996
MayorRudy Giuliani
Preceded byRaymond Kelly
Succeeded byHoward Safir
Chief of Police of Los Angeles
In office
October 27, 2002 – October 31, 2009
Appointed byJames Hahn
Preceded byMartin H. Pomeroy (interim)
Succeeded byMichael P. Downing (interim)
Commissioner of the Boston Police Department
In office
June 30, 1993 – January 1, 1994
Appointed byRaymond Flynn
Preceded byFrancis Roache
Succeeded byPaul F. Evans
Personal details
Born
William Joseph Bratton

(1947-10-06) October 6, 1947 (age 77)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Mary Bratton (divorced)[1]
Linda Bratton (divorced) [2]
Cheryl Fiandaca (1988–1998, divorced)
Rikki Klieman (1999–present)
EducationUniversity of Massachusetts Boston (BS)
AwardsHonorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire[3]
Military career
Allegiance United States
Service / branch United States Army
Years of service1965–1970
Unit Military Police Corps
Police career
Service years Boston PD (1970–1983, 1992–1994)
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police (1983–1986)
Boston Metropolitan District Commission Police (1986–1990)
NYC Transit PD (1990–1992)
NYPD (1994–1996, 2014–2016)
LAPD (2002–2009)
Rank Commissioner of the NYPD
January 1, 2014 – September 2016
Chief of the Los Angeles P.D.
October 27, 2002 – October 31, 2009
Commissioner of the NYPD
January 1, 1994 – April 15, 1996
Commissioner of the Boston Police Department
June 30, 1993 – January 1, 1994
Superintendent-in-Chief, Boston Police Department
January 1992
Chief of the New York City Transit Police
April 1990
Superintendent of the Metropolitan District Commission Police
June 1986
Chief of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police
May 1983
Superintendent, Labor Relations
September 1982
Superintendent, Inspector of Bureaus
May 1982
Executive Superintendent
October 1980
Lieutenant
March 1978
Sergeant
July 1975
Patrol officer, Boston Police Department
October 1970

William Joseph Bratton CBE (born October 6, 1947) is an American businessman and former law enforcement officer who served two non-consecutive tenures as the New York City Police Commissioner (1994–1996 and 2014–2016) and currently one of only two NYPD commissioners to do so (the other is Raymond Kelly). He previously served as the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department (BPD) (1993–1994) and Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) (2002–2009). He is the only person to have led the police departments of the United States' two largest cities – New York and Los Angeles.

Bratton began his police career at the BPD before becoming police commissioner in New York, where his quality-of-life policy has been credited with reducing petty and violent crime. He was recruited to lead the LAPD in 2002, following a period when the LAPD was struggling to rebuild public trust after a series of controversies in the 1990s. Bratton presided over an era of reform and crime reduction.[4] In January 2014, Bratton returned to the post of police commissioner in New York,[5] and served until September 2016.[6]

Bratton has served as an advisor on policing in several roles, including advising the British government[7] and is currently the chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council for the U.S. government.[8]

Bratton's policing style is influenced by the broken windows theory, a criminological theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and anti-social behavior. He advocates having an ethnically diverse police force representative of the population,[9] being tough on gangs and maintaining a strict zero tolerance policy toward anti-social behavior.[10]

  1. ^ Mancusi, Peter (September 19, 1980). "Bratton's confident: Boston's new police superintendent says, 'I'll have my detractors, but I know I can handle this job. I have no doubt about it.'". The Boston Globe.
  2. ^ Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic.
  3. ^ [1] Archived June 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Carlos Granda (August 12, 2011). "LAPD reforms provide example for other cities". ABC News. Archived from the original on August 27, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  5. ^ Goodman, J. David (December 5, 2013). "De Blasio to Name Bratton as New York Police Commissioner". The New York Times. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  6. ^ Goodman, J. David (August 2, 2016). "William Bratton, New York Police Commissioner, Will Step Down Next Month". The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  7. ^ "US 'supercop' Bill Bratton says riot arrests not only answer". BBC News. August 13, 2011.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Batty, David (August 13, 2011). "UK riots: police should tackle racial tension, says 'supercop' Bill Bratton". The Guardian. London.
  10. ^ Swaine, Jon (August 13, 2011). "UK riots: supercop's battle order for tackling Britain's street gangs". The Daily Telegraph. London. But in keeping with his desire to nip problems in the bud, he is clear that the repercussions for those who step out of line must be severe, especially among younger offenders. 'Very early on in people's lives you have to have them understand that abhorrent behaviour, anti-social behaviour, will not be tolerated,' he said.

Developed by StudentB