page_title: William Bratton
section_title: Los Angeles
hierarchical_section_title: William Bratton / Police career / Los Angeles
caption_attribution_description: English: William J. Bratton and fourth wife, Rikki Klieman, at LA/Valley Pride
context_page_description: William Joseph Bratton CBE is an American law enforcement officer and businessman who served two terms as the New York City Police Commissioner. He previously served as the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department and Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.
  Bratton began his police career at the Boston Police Department before becoming Police Commissioner in New York City, where his quality-of-life policy has been credited with reducing petty and violent crime. He was recruited to lead the Los Angeles Police Department in 2002 at a time when the LAPD was struggling to rebuild trust after the previous decade's Rodney King videotaped beating, Los Angeles riots, O.J. Simpson murder case's perjury by former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman and Rampart scandal, and presided over an era of reform and crime reduction. In January 2014, Bratton returned to the post of Police Commissioner in New York City, and served until September 2016.
  Bratton has served as an advisor on policing in several roles, including advising the British government and is currently the chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council for the U.S. government.
context_section_description: Bratton worked as a private consultant with Kroll Associates, also known as LAPD's Independent Monitor, until his appointment by the Mayor of Los Angeles James Hahn as the LAPD's 54th Chief of Police in October 2002. Bratton was one of three candidates recommended to Hahn by the Los Angeles Police Commission under Commission President Rick J. Caruso. Under Bratton's tenure, crime within the city dropped for six consecutive years.
  On June 19, 2007, the Los Angeles Police Commission reappointed Bratton to a second five-year term, the first reappointment of an LAPD chief in almost twenty years.
  Bratton has been criticized for his extensive travel; in 2005, he was out of town for a full third of the year on both official and personal business.
  In March 2009, Councilman Herb Wesson proposed an amendment to the City Charter, allowing Bratton to serve a third consecutive term as Police Chief.
  On September 11, 2009, he was awarded with the honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II "in recognition of his work to promote cooperation between US and UK police throughout his distinguished career".
  On August 12, 2011, Bratton said he was in talks with the British government to become an adviser on controlling the violence that had affected London the prior week. He said he received a phone call from U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, and that he would continue speaking with British officials to formalize an agreement. Bratton was approached by British Prime Minister David Cameron to become the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner in July 2011, but Theresa May and the Home Office said that the commissioner was required be a British citizen. Bratton instead was offered an advisor role to the British government, which he accepted in August 2011.
caption: Bratton and fourth wife, Rikki Klieman, at LA/Valley Pride
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