Bill Bratton | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2022 | |
Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council | |
Assumed office August 18, 2020 Serving with Jamie Gorelick | |
President | Donald Trump Joe Biden Donald Trump |
Preceded by | William H. Webster |
Vice Chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council | |
In office February 8, 2011 – August 18, 2020 | |
President | Barack Obama Donald Trump |
Preceded by | Gary Hart |
Succeeded by | Karen Tandy |
38th and 42nd New York City Police Commissioner | |
In office January 1, 2014 – September 16, 2016 | |
Mayor | Bill de Blasio |
Preceded by | Raymond Kelly |
Succeeded by | James P. O'Neill |
In office January 1, 1994 – April 15, 1996 | |
Mayor | Rudy Giuliani |
Preceded by | Raymond Kelly |
Succeeded by | Howard Safir |
Chief of Police of Los Angeles | |
In office October 27, 2002 – October 31, 2009 | |
Appointed by | James Hahn |
Preceded by | Martin H. Pomeroy (interim) |
Succeeded by | Michael P. Downing (interim) |
Commissioner of the Boston Police Department | |
In office June 30, 1993 – January 1, 1994 | |
Appointed by | Raymond Flynn |
Preceded by | Francis Roache |
Succeeded by | Paul F. Evans |
Personal details | |
Born | William Joseph Bratton October 6, 1947 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) |
Mary Bratton (divorced)Linda Bratton (divorced)Cheryl Fiandaca
(m. 1988; div. 1998) |
Education | University of Massachusetts Boston (BS) |
Awards | Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire[3] |
Military career | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Service | ![]() |
Years of service | 1965–1970 |
Unit | ![]() |
Police career | |
Service years | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rank | ![]() January 1, 2014 – September 2016 ![]() October 27, 2002 – October 31, 2009 ![]() January 1, 1994 – April 15, 1996 ![]() June 30, 1993 – January 1, 1994 ![]() January 1992 ![]() April 1990 ![]() June 1986 ![]() May 1983 ![]() September 1982 ![]() May 1982 ![]() October 1980 ![]() March 1978 ![]() 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]
:0
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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.