Bill Bratton was sworn in as the city’s 42nd police commissioner during a public ceremony at Police Headquarters on Thursday afternoon.
The public swearing in was one of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first acts as mayor.
Bratton, 66, replaces Ray Kelly for his second stint as head of the NYPD. He previously served under Mayor Rudy Giuliani from 1994 to 1996.
“I love this profession, I love this city and I love this department and I want to work with all of you to reach a point in time, with this mayor and his administration, where we can all celebrate together and we will, I have no doubt about that. I am committed to that and I am going to work very hard to make sure that happens,” Bratton said at the ceremony.
As chief of New York City Transit and NYPD commissioner, Bratton brought crime down by tracking statistics and being aggressive. That, however, led to a very public feud with then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani over which of them was responsible for the crime reduction in the early ’90s. Within two years, Bratton was gone.
He has since headed up the Los Angeles and Boston police departments. He’s also part of a successful security consulting firm.
It was also Bratton who first instituted Compstat, a computerized program to track crime and flood problem areas with police.
De Blasio said at Thursday’s ceremony that New York is the safest big city in America because two decades ago Bratton started Compstat.
“It is our job to have your back to make sure we can move forward together in this crucial work,” de Blasio said.
De Blasio thanked Kelly, saying he served with distinction and integrity.
He also said Bratton was a progressive crime fighter and that crime will be reduced even further when police and communities work together.
“Safe streets and the respect for civil liberty go hand in hand,” de Blasio said, referring to his vow to end the controversial stop-and-frisk police tactic.
Bratton said it’s good to be back in New York.
“Who says you can’t come home again? It is home and it is great to be back,” Bratton said.
He was officially sworn in yesterday, just after midnight on New Year’s Day at a private ceremony at Police Headquarters.
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via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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