Promising old-school policing with new-age enlightenment, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio on Thursday brought Bill Bratton back as NYPD commissioner 20 years after the top cop’s first go-round.
De Blasio embraced the 66-year-old law enforcement veteran as a kindred spirit and “progressive visionary” capable of fulfilling one of his central campaign promises — mending the Police Department’s relationship with communities of color while keeping crime in check.
“Wherever he’s gone, he’s driven down crime,” de Blasio said at a Brooklyn news conference.
“I am choosing the best police leader in the United States of America,” he added. “Plus (he’s) someone I trust on the philosophical level. We are kindred. We share the same beliefs.”
Bratton echoed the new administration’s call for keeping crime at its historically low levels while repairing damage done in minority neighborhoods by the heavy use of stop-and-frisk policing.
The NYPD made 4.4 million stops between 2004 and 2012 — and frisked 2.3 million people.
“We have a situation in this city at this time which is so unfortunate,” said Bratton, who served under Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani for 27 memorable months beginning in 1994.
“At a time that police and community should be so much closer together, that there should be a bond of legitimacy and trust between them, that is not the case in so many communities in this city.
“That is unfortunate,” he said. “But it can be corrected.”
Neither de Blasio, a Democrat, nor Bratton specifically mentioned the names of Mayor Bloomberg or Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, whom Bratton will be replacing for a second time, after succeeding Kelly in 1994.
But their desire to demonstrate a break from the Bloomberg-Kelly regime could not have been more clear.
Even the venue for the announcement — the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn — was intended to showcase the new approach. It is a small court that deals with quality-of-life offenses through alternative means and criminal sanctions.
For his part, the outgoing commissioner wished his successor well.
“I congratulate Bill Bratton on his appointment and welcome him back to 1 Police Plaza,” Kelly said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Bill to ensure a smooth transition.”
The first Bratton regime was widely hailed for the introduction of CompStat, the data-driven system of tracking crimes that allows police to better allocate resources to high-crime areas.
“It was the game-changer in policing this city, and it happened because of Bill Bratton,” said de Blasio.
Bratton, driven from One Police Plaza in 1996 after a clash of egos with Mayor Giuliani, said he was looking forward to his second tour atop the nation’s largest police force.
“I don’t want to do it all over again the same way,” Bratton said. “I want what (de Blasio) is promising, a new day.”
Bratton cited three goals: Keeping the crime rates low, working with other agencies to combat terrorism, and creating a “mutual respect and trust” between police and New Yorkers.
“That can happen and it will happen in New York City,” he said. “That is my commitment to this mayor.”
He also singled out a desire to cut down on the number of traffic-related deaths.
Kelly will leave the $205,180-a-year job at the end of the year. A de Blasio spokesman said Bratton’s package of pay and benefits, typically negotiated with the mayor, was still getting “worked out.”
Bratton was selected from a pool of three finalists, winning the job over NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks and First Deputy Commissioner Rafael Pineiro.
“I think the particular achievements of Commissioner Bratton and the particular philosophical affinity just jump off the page,” said de Blasio. “And the choice became clearer and clearer to me.”
The selection of Bratton, who was popular with the rank-and-fire during his first turn as top cop, was hailed by the police unions Thursday as “solid” and “inclusive.”
“I think there’s a broken relationship right now between police and community,” said Roy Richter, head of the Captains Endowment Association. “We want to move forward . . . this choice is a very positive one in that direction.”
Civil rights groups mixed praise for Bratton with the adoption of a wait-and-see approach.
“I hope (he) will work with a broad cross-section of New Yorkers,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who added that both de Blasio and Bratton called him Thursday morning to give him a heads-up about the appointment.
“Mr. Bratton knows of my concerns and the concerns of others about racial profiling in stop-and-frisk policing, but at the same time is aware of our desire to continue the decrease of violence and crime in our community,” Sharpton noted.
And City Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Brooklyn), an outspoken critic of stop-and-frisk, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the appointment.
With elected leaders from Gov. Cuomo on down all showing varying degrees of approval, only firebrand City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), who did not support de Blasio for mayor, sounded a sour note.
“Asking Bill Bratton to come back and stop racial profiling . . . is like asking an arsonist to help you put out fires,” said Barron.
“You don’t ask the person who’s the architect of racial profiling, stop and frisk to come back and now put a stop to it,” the former Black Panther said.
Indeed, even though de Blasio campaigned in the mayoral election against the NYPD’s heavy reliance on stop-and-frisk, Bratton expanded its use while he headed the Los Angeles Police Department from 2002 to 2009.
The numbers, however, tell a more nuanced story: In 2008, 30% of the LAPD stops resulted in an arrest, while under Kelly, only about 6% of all NYPD stops resulted in an arrest.
“Stop-and-frisk is essential to every police department in America,” Bratton said Thursday. “But it’s also essential that it be done constitutionally and it be done respectfully. And that is my commitment to this mayor and his commitment to the city that it will be done that way.”
For his part, De Blasio said he and Bratton “will preserve and deepen the historic gains we’ve made in public safety” while protecting the civil rights of the city’s 8 million citizens.
“This is an administration that will do both,” he said.
Bratton and de Blasio both dismissed concerns about the commissioner’s combative first stretch as top cop.
“I imagine that many of us in this room have become stronger, wiser, better over 20 years,” said de Blasio. “And I think from my vantage point that Commissioner Bratton has gotten better every year.”
With Tina Moore and Jennifer Fermino
