Bratton steps down as New York police chief in September
America's most powerful city police chief announced his resignation as New York commissioner on Tuesday, ending a 45-year career in public life and leaving to his successor the task of repairing fraught police-community relations.
Bill Bratton, 68, who has served twice as New York police commissioner, as well as the police chief in Los Angeles and Boston, was a key proponent of "zero tolerance" policing in the 1990s that slashed crime to historic lows.
He was reappointed New York police chief in 2013 by Mayor Bill de Blasio and steps down as the United States is roiled by controversy over deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and high-profile killings of officers.
The issue has turned into a flashpoint in the presidential campaigning between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Bratton's departure for a job in the private sector will see his Brooklyn-born successor, James O'Neill, expand a new neighborhood policing strategy that the mayor said would "fundamentally change" police-community relations.
"It is now time for me to move on," Bratton told a news conference, promising a seamless transition in September to a "capable, energetic and creative" team.
He spent the last 31 months at the helm of the largest and best-funded US police department overseeing a major expansion in equipment, recruiting and training, but he said policing was always unfinished business.
"The issues we're facing now are going to require years to resolve," Bratton said, listing mistrust of the criminal justice system, particularly by minorities, as well as immigration and anger directed at the city's Muslim community.
"As we go forward and face the crises of race in America, crime in America, fear of terrorism, and in the midst of the turmoil in this presidential election, there is no police department in America that will be better prepared to face all that we are going to have to face in the future," he said.
New York is the largest and most ethnically diverse city in the United States. Deputy commissioner Benjamin Tucker, who is African-American, will remain on the job and O'Neill will be succeeded as chief of department by Cuban-born immigrant Carlos Gomez.
- Change necessary -
New York had its lowest crime rate in 2014 since records began, an incredible transformation since the drug wars of the 1990s. Homicide and gun-related offenses dropped again during the first half of 2016.
Advisory firm Teneo announced that Bratton was joining the company in September as senior managing director and executive chairman of Teneo Risk, a new division focused on advising clients on risk, prevention and response.
De Blasio hailed Bratton's contributions as "inestimable" and said he had "tremendous faith" in O'Neill's neighborhood policing initiative.
"I believe it's going to change the city, I believe it's going to become a model that will be looked at around the country because it really answers what people are aching for," he said.
O'Neill said he would build on the foundations laid by Bratton, but said protests in 2014, which followed the death of an unarmed black father-of-five in custody, and the murder of two officers in December 2014 "signaled that change was necessary."
"It was clear the NYPD had to evolve and find a new way forward to meet the needs of every New Yorker," he told the news conference.
By October the neighborhood policing initiative would be rolled out to more than half the police command city wide, he said.
A US Army Vietnam veteran, Bratton began his police career in 1970. Originally from Massachusetts, he became police commissioner of Boston and first served as New York police chief under Republican mayor Rudy Giuliani from 1994 to 1996.
He imposed "zero tolerance" policing in the 1990s and expanded the use of the stop and frisk as police chief of Los Angeles from 2002 to 2009.
He was even once approached to take charge of London's Metropolitan force. Britain's then prime minister David Cameron sought advice from Bratton on dealing with gangs in the wake of the London 2011 riots.