Policing in The 21st Century
LAPD is doing whatever they can to ensure that we live in a safe environment and neighborhood. Having Chief William Bratton as the Chief of Police in Los Angeles is a privilege not only for the city of Los Angeles but a privilege and a safety net for the residences of the Los Angeles since he has been instrumental in bringing the crime rate down for five consecutive years and thanks God. In this luncheon forum Chief Bratton also shared with us his success story in these culturally the most diverse cities, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.
William J. Bratton was appointed Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department in October 2002. Chief Bratton oversees the third largest police department in the United States, managing 9,500 sworn officers, 3,000 civilian employees, and an annual budget of more than one billion dollars. After directing a major reengineering and reform effort, he is now driving initiatives in LA aimed at utilizing real-time information to further reduce crime, target gang violence, and mitigate the threat posed by terrorism. After five years in office, crime in LA has been reduced to historically low levels, with Part I crimes down 32% and homicides down 40%.
The only person ever to serve as chief executive of both the LAPD and the NYPD, Chief Bratton established an international reputation for reengineering police departments and fighting crime in the 1990s. As Chief of the New York City Transit Police, Boston Police Commissioner, then New York City Police Commissioner, he revitalized morale and cut crime in all three posts, achieving the largest crime declines in New York City’s history. He led the development of CompStat, the internationally acclaimed computerized crime-mapping system developed by the NYPD in the 1990s and now used by police departments nationwide. By bringing all crime and arrest data together by category and by neighborhood, CompStat revolutionized policing, enabling officers to focus their efforts in problem areas, armed with real-time information, accurate intelligence, rapid deployment of resources, individual accountability, and relentless follow-up. From 1996 on, Chief Bratton worked in the private sector, where he formed his own private consulting company, The Bratton Group, L.L.C., working on four continents, including extensive consulting in South America. He also consulted with the Kroll Associates monitoring team overseeing the implementation of the Federal Consent Decree with the LAPD.
A U.S. Army Vietnam veteran, Chief Bratton began his policing career in 1970 as a police officer with the Boston Police Department, rising to Superintendent of Police, the department’s highest sworn rank, in just 10 years. In the 1980s, Chief Bratton headed two other police agencies, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police and the Massachusetts Metropolitan District Commission Police.
Chief Bratton holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Law Enforcement from Boston State College/University of Massachusetts. He is a graduate of the FBI National Executive Institute and was a Senior Executive Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is also the only chief executive to serve two terms as the elected President of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). He is a frequent lecturer, writer, and commentator. His critically acclaimed autobiography, Turnaround, was published by Random House in 1998.
Chief Bratton explained the priorities in the Los Angeles Police Department. The unfortunate events of 9-11 brought many changes to policing he added. Before 2001 terrorism was a federal matter but after that police departments are also involved to counter these threats.
Chief also explained how his department has been successful in dealing with crimes in the city for five consecutive years and he said more needed to be done. He also stated his willingness to recruit more an additional thousand officers to the department. Because he said if the public demands quality service, as much as the New York City residents, with the New York City standards, there has to be double the number of police in Los Angeles right now. At present he said there are 9500 sworn officers and only 1 out of 15 applicants finally gets admitted to the department. With an annual budget of 1 billion dollars, one does not have to over emphasize the amount of money spent on public safety. Because if there is no safety, no one would be willing to do business and as safety increases, business owners would be more willing to invest more even to areas that were traditionally considered unsafe.