Job done in LA, Bratton heads for private sector
LOS ANGELES - Crime was rising, officer morale slumping, and fallout from a corruption scandal was still smoldering when William Bratton arrived in 2002 to head a police department with a tattered reputation. Even the police buildings were crumbling.
Seven years later, the Los Angeles Police Department is an agency transformed and few would downplay Bratton’s role in the turnaround. Crime has dropped to historic lows, the police force is bigger and more diverse than ever, and several gleaming new facilities, including a $437 million headquarters downtown, reflect the department’s polished image.
Bratton is stepping down this week for a high-paying private sector job, raising fears that the department will suffer in his absence after such a successful tenure.
“I fear the reforms he brought to the department might dissipate,’’ said Joe Domanick, who has studied the LAPD for decades and is associate director at the Center on Crime, Media and Justice at John Jay College in New York. “I would feel much more comfortable if he had served out his second five-year term.’’
Bratton, who has headed the police departments in Boston and New York, hands in his badge to take a job as chief executive officer at Altegrity Security Consulting, a private security firm based in Virginia.
Despite misgivings from those who say he is leaving too soon, Bratton is confident the department can continue its present course without him. During his seven-year tenure, he replaced most top brass and carefully groomed his new assistant and deputy chiefs. He is openly lobbying for an insider to replace him.
“These are great people,’’ Bratton said in a recent interview. “They are smart as a whip, they know the city, and they know the cast of characters they are going to have to interact with. All of them have the respect of the men and women of the department.’’
Still, the new chief will face challenges Bratton never encountered. Foremost is the financial crisis the city and state face.
In the short term, the new chief must deal with renewed pressures from a City Council desperately looking to cut costs as it confronts a $400 million budget shortfall. Since 2002, the Police Department has increased by more than 800 officers to its highest-ever level of 10,000.
Despite his successes, the chief’s tenure has also been marked by barbed exchanges with the City Council.
“The sad part is that he has burned bridges with elected officials. Part of it is the New Yorktype, duke-it-out attitude,’’ Councilman Dennis Zine said. “We are a little more polite on the West Coast.’’
