(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer). New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, is joined by Police Commissioner William Bratton, left, and Chief of Department James O’Neill during a news conference, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016, in New York’s City Hall.
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O’Neill said he would build on the foundations laid by Bratton, but said protests in 2014, which followed the death of an unarmed black father-of-five in custody, and the murder of two officers in December 2014 “signaled that change was necessary”.
Bratton is credited with pioneering the NYPD’s CompStat, a command and accountability system that employed real-time intelligence, rapid deployment of resources and accountability systems in police work.
On Monday, Million March NYC, a group closely related to Black Lives Matter, held an all-day demonstration vowing to shut down City Hall until de Blasio fired Bratton.
De Blasio noted that under O’Neill’s leadership, an amalgamation of neighborhood policing and quality of life policing will be employed.
“Fortunately, I have gotten to know Chief O’Neill over the years, and so to know that he will become the new Police Commissioner is good and reassuring news”.
Mayor Bill de Blasio praised Bratton in effusive terms, declaring that the departing commissioner has provided an “inestimable and extraordinary” service to law enforcement in the city and across the country. “I would argue that we are farther along in New York City than most places”.
“We’ve tried to redefine our relationship from being the police to being your police”, Bratton said.
O’Neill was previously Chief of Department, the highest uniform cop role in the NYPD and was handpicked by Bratton as his successor.
He all also served in the Los Angeles and Boston police departments, but always considered himself and “an adoptive son” of New York City.
“Broken windows” policing, as it is known, cracks down aggressively on low-level offenses in the hopes that it will deter bigger crimes.
“I will work very hard and will move very quickly to getting once again, legitimacy and trust between the citizens of this city who feel that they don’t have it between them and this police department”, Bratton said.
In a 2015 TEDx Talks appearance, O’Neill acknowledged how hard it is to promote police-community relations in the wake of incidents such as the police killing of Eric Garner. Now cross your fingers and hope he stands as firmly behind incoming Police Commissioner James O’Neill as he did behind Bill Bratton. The company says the new division will advise companies and CEOs on a range of issues from cyber security to city planning to crisis response and anti-terrorism.
The mayor, if re-elected next year, may be under pressure by his liberal allies to select a more progressive candidate than Bratton, and likely a commissioner of color.
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In recent months, Bratton has disciplined several high-ranking officers as part of a federal corruption investigation that also has examined de Blasio’s fundraising practices. His brash style – which doomed his first stint as commissioner under then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani – went unabated under de Blasio, as evidenced Tuesday in his description of de Blasio’s reaction when he invited the mayor into his office and broke the news that he was leaving the NYPD.
