According to this morning’s rec listed diary, Confirmed: Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) coordinating Occupy raids, by aigeanta, he is a member of Homeland Security Advisory Council where he is described as:
Chief William “Bill” Bratton (Vice Chair), Chairman of Kroll, Altegrity Security Consulting
Chief William Bratton (vice-chair) was recently named the Chairman of Kroll, part of Altegrity Security Consulting. Bratton began his law enforcement career in 1970, and has served as Los Angeles Police Department Chief, Chief of the New York City Transit Police, Boston Police Commissioner, and New York City Police Commissioner. He is also the only executive to serve two terms as the elected President of the Police Executive Research Forum. Chief Bratton's professional honors include the Schroeder Brothers Medalthe Boston Police Department's highest award for valor.
He is the man who claims to have reduced the crime rate in NY and LA backing his claims up with the CompStat program he introduced to both departments. And on its face, it seems his claims are true, although some police officers have raised questions about the validity of the data that was put into the program.
From the NY Times, Feb 6, 2010:
The retired members of the force reported that they were aware over the years of instances of “ethically inappropriate” changes to complaints of crimes in the seven categories measured by the department’s signature CompStat program, according to a summary of the results of the survey and interviews with the researchers who conducted it.
GIGO anyone?
Earlier this summer he was suggested as the new head of the Metropolitan Police Department in London. More about that, and his tenure in LA below the fold.
In case any of you have forgotten, from The Daily Telegraph of August 10, 2011:
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Bill Bratton, the former New York police chief, said many young people, especially gang members, had been “emboldened” by over-cautious policing tactics and lenient sentencing policies.
Losing public confidence in its ability to provide security — through force if necessary — created “incredible difficulty” for a police force, he said.
To be effective, a police force should have “a lot of arrows in the quiver,” said Mr Bratton, advocating a doctrine of “escalating force” where weapons including rubber bullets, Tasers, pepper spray and water cannon were all available to commanders.
Sound familiar?
While he was considering David Cameron's offer to become the new Supercop, the Mail Online published this tidbit:
The U.S. Supercop drafted in to advise David Cameron on gang violence resigned as New York's police commissioner after being investigated for taking free holidays from a controversial tycoon.
Henry Kravis – whose ruthless takeover raids inspired Michael Douglas's portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street – treated Bill Bratton, 63, and his third wife Cheryl to a trip on his private jet to his estate in Colorado in 1994.
Two years later, the plane whisked them to Mr Kravis’s property in the Dominican Republican.
Although his connection with Mr Kravis had no bearing on the UK's decision, I find it interesting in light of his possible role in the crack down of the OWS movement.
Fortunately for the British,
The Daily Telegraph disclosed last week that Mr Cameron had hoped Mr Bratton could become the next Metropolitan Police Commissioner, but was frustrated by the Home Office insisting that only a British citizen should be able to run Scotland Yard. Mr Cameron intends to use Mr Bratton as a personal adviser and will meet him in London next week. The American declined to be drawn on whether he would have wanted the Met job.
However, when I think of Bill Bratton, I think of the police violence captured on film during the Los Angeles May Day protest in 2007.
For those who missed the story, thousands of peaceful protestors marched to MacArthur Park on May 1, 2007 for a rally in support of immigration amnesty. Families attended together; there were seniors and babies in attendance at the Park and there was a holiday feeling to the gathering.
Until someone on the streets surrounding the Park threw a bottle at a line of police officers. Commanding the dispersal of the crowds, in English to a mostly Spanish speaking population, the police immediately began to sweep through the street, into and through the park, using tactics of Bill Bratton. They didn't arrest the protestors so much as they beat them and shot them with rubber bullets.
The press was there covering the event.
From Democracy Now:
The Los Angeles Police Department is coming under increasing criticism for violently crushing a largely peaceful immigrants rights march on Tuesday. Police with riot guns fired 240 rounds, shot tear gas and clubbed protesters and journalists gathered in MacArthur Park. At least ten people were injured including seven journalists.
Pedro Sevcec was broadcasting live for the Spanish-language television network Telemundo when police knocked over his monitors and lights and hit his staff with batons. Sevcec told the Los Angeles Times a police officer grabbed one of his cameras and threw it more than fifteen feet to the ground. He said police pointed a riot gun at his face, hit him with a baton and forced him out of the park.
Bill Bratton publically stated that the police response was inappropriate and steps would be taken to correct the breakdown in command.
In a scathing report last year, LAPD officials blamed the flawed police response on a series of fateful decisions by police commanders that escalated hostilities and resulted in a widespread breakdown in behavior by officers. July 9, 2008 LATimes
None of the lieutenants or captains were fired.
As of Feb 5, 2009 the LA Times reported that
The City Council on Wednesday agreed to pay nearly $13 million to people injured or mistreated in a May Day melee in MacArthur Park, bringing to more than $30 million the money spent over the last two weeks to settle lawsuits alleging LAPD misconduct.
This is the same Bill Bratton who is now vice chair of the DHS Advisory Committee as well as Chairman of Kroll, part of Altegrity Security Consulting and two time President of PERF that is advising the police departments around the country on how to control protestors. With him advising the departments, it should come as no surprise that we are seeing an escalation of violence against unarmed peaceful civilians and our representatives in the media. I suspect this man has those who admire his reduced crime statistics and his belief in the use of "escalating force" to control people instead of arresting them. I think that may explain why we are seeing such brutal behavior from police departments all over the country.
You see, Bill Bratton didn't have to pay the $13 million settlement caused by the execution of his policing theories, the taxpayers of Los Angeles did.