New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton is leaving the nation’s large…
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Mayor Bill de Blasio, who picked Bratton to head the department in 2013, backed him at a news conference last week, saying “as long as I’m mayor, I welcome him to continue as commissioner”.
There was at least one person who seemed to be heartened by the departure of William Bratton.
Mr Bratton, who led the department in the 1990s before returning in 2014, noted that he was leaving at “a challenging time for police in America and NY, even though all indicators are pointing in the right direction”.
“When people know the name of their officer they feel that their immediate neighborhood”, the mayor said.
Bratton, 68, began his career as a patrolman in Boston in 1970 and built a resume unmatched in local law enforcement, heading police departments in Boston, Los Angeles and NY. “Crime down, terrorism issues being dealt with effectively”.
Long time New York City Police Department veteran James O’Neill, known as Jimmy, will be New York City’s next police commissioner. A Brooklyn native, O’Neill has risen through the NYPD’s ranks for over 30 years. He did say the position was from a private firm that had nothing to do with policing and that Bratton and his wife would be staying in NY.
He had previously said he would retire from NY no later than next year. Blake had asked for an apology-something he got from the mayor but did not get from the commissioner.
While the program earned praise in then-President Bill Clinton’s 1994 State of the Union address, internal police memos emerged portraying it as lax and ineffective.
Mr Bratton found himself in the middle, calling the officers’ gesture inappropriate but at the same time noting that it reflected their feelings about “many issues”.
Some civil liberties activists and others cautioned on Tuesday that the new emphasis on neighborhood policing is little more than repackaging a limited concept.
And in a tough world, friendliness only goes so far.
But “there’s no way Bratton could have foreseen the firestorm he walked into”, said Eugene O’Donnell, a former NYPD officer who’s now a John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor.
“You can be nice to people, but you can’t be nice to everybody”, he said. The more practical question for cops and the residents they police is whether anything changes now. “He is a down-to-earth guy”, and is the flawless buffer between “what the cops feel is an anti-police mayor and the working street cop”, the source said.
Parents, Maria Forte of Great Kills said it was important to her to bring her kids to the event, so they could learn about the men and women of the NYPD.
“They could be nicer”, he said.
New York City police precincts took part in National Night Out on Tuesday.
Bratton’s tenure in Los Angeles was defined by data-driven policing, a significant drop in crime and ongoing efforts to mend the rifts in the community that he inherited. Quality of life policing is the idea that by heavily enforcing relatively more innocuous laws, like public urination and littering, will lead to increased respect for more serious laws.
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He called Bratton’s achievements during the past 31 months during his second stint as commissioner, “literally inestimable and extraordinary”. “But I do think that the collective action for those that are standing here together…that something had to occur and now it’s the responsibility of incoming Commissioner O’Neill to work with us”.
