A burgher is both citizen and representative of the mercantile class, something Chief Bratton is poised to become once he steps down as Los Angeles police chief to succumb to the blandishments of the private sector. Is he as wonderful as his well packaged image proclaims, or as suspect as skeptics peering behind the veneer suggest? There is a scale which will soon point to a credible answer. But, first, here are the poles that define the spectrum.
Says James Q. Wilson, co-author of the important "Broken Windows" essay:
" ... William J. Bratton has been the best thing that happened to the LAPD since William H. Parker, the man who created our modern Police Department over half a century ago. Bratton came to a city plagued by high rates of crime, rampant gang violence, the unhappy memory of the Rodney King riots, deep distrust between the police and the black community and a consent decree in which a federal judge made clear his intention to make wholesale changes in how we were policed ... "
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Goodbye to the chief - Los Angeles Times
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Says Tim Rutten, L.A. Times author of When the going got tough, Bratton got gone www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rutten7-2009aug07,0,440561.column
"The lasting impression created by Bratton's abrupt departure is of a leader who was happy to occupy the spotlight when his department was riding high, wide and handsome, but unwilling to get his hands dirty -- and perhaps to dent his reputation -- when the going got institutionally tough."
Working level insiders affirm Bratton's talent for self-promotion and teflon-like resistance to bad press. The chief has been said to seldom resist hijacking a subordinate's achievements as his own. Jack Maple, for example, invented Compstat. Even the television program starring Craig T. Nelson that featured that innovation in D.C., The District, acknowledged Maple more than Bratton does when he allows the innovation to surface in his resume. But Maple is deceased and unlikely to complain. Moreover, Bratton seldom appears to take as much credit for the rain as for the sunshine. Witness the LAPD after-action report on mishandled MacArthur Park protests a couple of years ago. Its tone? These lousy commanders let the chief down. Right.
Now for the scale. The LAPD Academy coffee shop has on its menu a Bratton Burger. How long will that item stay on the menu? If the chief is indeed the greatest boon to policing since badges and billy clubs, the answer is indefinitely. But, according to one former city employee with law enforcement credentials, "I give it three months" before this informal tribute fades away.
- Nick Catrantzos
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- All Secure
- NICK CATRANTZOS is the lead author of the All Secure website and is the emeritus security director for a large public organization. He has also managed security aspects of corporate takeovers, response to international hostage situations, and finding and keeping secrets. He has been board certified in security management, licensed as a private investigator, and certified as an incident commander. He worked as a case officer for a discreet branch of public service. He protected stealth technology at Lockheed and, later, as a consulting security director for both Kroll and Control Risks, he assisted executives with workplace violence cases and with protecting VIPs and critical assets globally in volatile areas. Nick's partner, TOM GOFF, was a captain in the Military Police Corps, U.S. Army Reserve and has a law degree from the University of California at Davis. He is a former reporter for Fortune Magazine, was senior editor at New York Magazine and Esquire, and has provided crisis and communications counsel to senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, including Lockheed, ARCO, Microsoft, Nissan, and Sony Pictures.