Bratton addresses his final CompStat meeting. Courtesy of NYPD Twitter.
The short-lived reign of NYPD’s top brass came to an end, as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton held his last CompStat meeting at One Police Plaza Thursday.
Bratton, who spent the last 30 months trying to re-institute the crime-fighting tactics from his days under the Giuliani administration, has seen both praise and criticism from New Yorkers. But, as he puts it, “I’ve had a ball working these last 30 months.”
Bratton got his start as a beat cop in Boston back in 1970 and rose through the ranks to become BPD’s police commissioner. He went on to advance his career when he became police commissioner for New York City from 1994 to 1996 under then Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani was the first mayor to put Bratton’s controversial Broken Windows Theory into practice. Bratton later resigned and moved out west to head the Los Angeles Police Department. He later returned to the policing he knew best, this time under the De Blasio Administration just two short years ago.
Since his return, Bratton has seen a spike in crime statistic and the assassination-style killings of NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in their patrol car on Dec. 20, 2014. He has also taken heavy criticism for continuing the Broken Window Policy, which many have complained singles out low income and urban area residents.
Bratton was being pressured to resign by Black Lives Matter protesters who had amassed in a park across from City Hall just a week before his announcement.
During his final speech at CompStat, Bratton told reporters, “This is a week of lasts for me. I have a lot of memories in this room, a lot of good memories, a lot of tense times.”
Bratton will be succeeded by Chief of Department James O’Neill, who promised to continue the work of his former boss, which includes Broken Windows.
“I think becoming commissioner is going to give me the opportunity to really show my appreciation for the men and women who do such a great job throughout the city,” O’Neill told reporters.
Bratton will spend his final hours patrolling the transit system with O’Neill before his traditional “walk-out” ceremony Friday afternoon at One Police Plaza.
