He began his career patrolling Hub streets in 1970 before climbing the ranks to lead BPD, before going to NY, then the Los Angeles Police Department before ending his career back in the Big Apple. Bratton would be replaced by the police department’s top uniformed officer, Chief James O’Neill, a veteran NY commander who became an officer in 1983.
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Commissioner Bratton stated that he will try to leave the bus heading in the right direction before he leaves the force next month. James O’Neill, the department’s top chief, will replace him as commissioner.
A US Army Vietnam veteran, Bratton began his police career in 1970.
The mayor lauded the “friendship and deep connection” with the outgoing commissioner and said that they started together to do two things that “many said could not be done:” to reduce crime while repairing rifts between the community and police.
“I think it shows police that we appreciate them, and that we really want to know what’s going on in our communities”, Cryssi Lieto, President of the 122nd Precinct’s Community Council, said.
Public Advocate Letitia “Tish” James: “For the second time in as many decades, Commissioner Bill Bratton has led New York City’s finest, keeping our City and communities safe”.
De Blasio said that O’Neill was intimately involved in the NYPD’s CompStat program as well.
A federal judge ruled that the tactic was an unconstitutional form of racial profiling in 2013, just months before de Blasio and Bratton took office. The report also found that the policy was costly to the city “in police time, in an increase of the number of people brought into the criminal justice system and, at times, in a fraying of the relationship between the police and the communities they serve”.
Bratton is one of the most well-known police officials in the United States. His resignation comes after protesters staged a demonstration outside City Hall Monday night and Tuesday to call for Bratton’s resignation, NBC New York reported. Bratton’s work had changed what people expected from a police commander.
“Mr. O’Neill needs to immediately meet with civil rights leaders, faith leaders, local grassroots groups…patrol groups, anti-violence groups so we will understand exactly what his vision for policing is”, Sharpton said at the Harlme headquarters of his civil rights group National Action Network.
Bratton, 68, will head a newly created risk division at the consulting firm Teneo, where he will advise chief executives on cyber crime and terrorism, he said during an interview on CNBC.
The move may not come as a surprise to some, given Bratton’s recent comments.
O’Neill has served in the NYPD for more than 30 years, de Blasio said, beginning in the New York City Transit Police in 1983. We expect him to learn from his success with Bratton, back his new commissioner to the hilt – and let him do his job.
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Last week, Bratton announced he would not return as commissioner past de Blasio’s first term, which ends next year, and he recently endorsed O’Neill as his successor.
