William Bratton: Lauded chief of troubled LAPD
The former chief of police of New York and Boston explains why policing in Los Angeles is different from anywhere else, and how he's working to change the LAPD culture.
from the July 6, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Crime down 30 percent in five years
Bratton is considered by both police watchdog groups and commissioners to be one of the most skilled police leaders in America. His accountability tactics are credited with helping to cut serious crime 30 percent in five years, putting the city in the forefront of antiterrorism readiness, and restoring faith in a department plagued by serial scandals ranging from King to O.J. Simpson to a corruption scandal, called "Rampart," in which one officer implicated some 70 cops for planting evidence and framing suspects.
He has embraced a list of reforms – use-of-force guidelines, pursuit, training, recruitment, officer-tracking – to meet the requirements of a federal consent decree to promote "police integrity."
"Bratton has been able to regain the public trust early by reducing the crime rate visibly and making everyone feel L.A. is a safer place," says Merrick Bobb, executive director of the Police Assessment Resource Center, a national police accountability group based in L.A.
Among methods at the heart of that effort is CompStat, a computerized system of logging and analyzing crime statistics and then directing limited resources in the most useful ways. "He has been able to lay a groundwork of established community and civic networks that permit communications across key neighborhoods, so that if untoward events happen, they can be weathered," says Mr. Bobb.
Bratton handled the May 1 riot police incident in MacArthur Park through a series of public meetings and by holding officers accountable. In doing so, say many observers, Bratton avoided the conflicts that have erupted here for decades.
"MacArthur Park is a clear demonstration of Chief Bratton's exemplary, decisive leadership by addressing command-and-control problems and launching several comprehensive investigations," says John Mack, president of the police commission and former head of the L.A. Urban League. "He aggressively reached out to individuals, victims, [and] civil rights and civil-liberties leaders and organizations."
With the incident largely behind him, Bratton is seizing the moment – the positive light of reappointment, the negative light of scandal – to hone the point that he emphasized in his first term: cops count. In 16-hour days, seven days a week, he takes the message to church, civic, educational, and interpolice groups.
"I have committed my whole professional life to making the public aware of the importance of police," he says, from a high-backed leather rocker in his office. "The average Joe, the average informed person, and even political leadership need to be constantly reminded how essential we are in maintaining what democracy promises, which is freedom."
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