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Gay activists fume over de Blasio’s role in rentboy.com raidGay activists are furious over the rentboy.com raid and arrests for prostitution — and they are wondering why Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton worked with the federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. Both the mayor and Bratton march in the very same gay pride parade in which rentboy.com has a float. “Koch, Giuliani and Bloomberg didn’t go after rentboy.com. Why is de Blasio?” wondered one gay man who has used the service.

New York City's top cop is demanding a retraction after he was quoted by a news article saying the NYPD has a hard time hiring black officers because "so many of them have spent time in jail," according to a published report. The Daily News reports that Commissioner Bill Bratton has called on the Guardian to retract the story -- which bears the headline "NYPD chief Bratton says hiring black officers is difficult: ‘So many have spent time in jail,’ -- because his comments were taken out of context from another story published by the British news outlet about the...

Hiring more non-white officers is difficult because so many would-be recruits have criminal records, the New York police commissioner, Bill Bratton, has said. “We have a significant population gap among African American males because so many of them have spent time in jail and, as such, we can’t hire them,” Bratton said in an interview with the Guardian. Police departments, responding to widespread protests against several high-profile police killings of black men, are boosting efforts to recruit more non-white officers. But budget restrictions, strained relations between police and minority communities and, according to Bratton, a history of indiscriminate policing tactics...

Barbara Tasch June 10, 2015 New York police commissioner William Bratton said he'd like to hire more non-white officers but most of them have criminal records and therefore, he can't, The Guardian reported. “We have a significant population gap among African American males because so many of them have spent time in jail and, as such, we can’t hire them," Bratton said in an interview with the publication. For this high number, Bratton blamed the "unfortunate consequences" of stop-and-frisk policing carried out on young non-white men over the last few years in New York. A felony conviction, domestic violence charges,...

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio touted new crime statistics Monday, one day after members of the NYPD once again turned their backs on him. The mayor spoke with police commissioner William Bratton, hailing big drops in the murder and robbery rates. At the funeral of officer Wen Jian Liu Sunday, some officers turned their backs when de Blasio spoke, claiming the mayor doesn't have their back amid growing anti-police sentiment, despite a memo from Bratton asking the officers refrain from acts of protest. De Blasio has tried repeatedly to close the divide. "Rather than...

NYPD Chief: "Inappropriate" For Officers To Turn Backs On Mayor Again By REBECCA KAPLAN December 28, 2014 New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton said it was "very inappropriate" for officers to turn their backs on New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio at the funeral for slain NYPD Officer Rafael Ramos. It was the second time officers had done so since the slaying of two NYPD cops. "That funeral was held to honor Officer Ramos, and to bring politics, to bring issues into that event I think was very inappropriate and I do not support it. He is the mayor...

Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City Police Department Commissioner William Bratton, and Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs Nisha Agarwal last week announced a notable update to the NYPD Patrol Guide – the upcoming municipal identification card, IDNYC, will be a valid and recognized form of government-issued identification. This important step will help prevent the arrests of New Yorkers previously unable to provide proof of their identity during interactions with the Police Department – including many immigrant, young adult, and transgender residents. IDNYC cards with names and home addresses will also be recognized as a form of identification in the issuance...

If progressive politics is all about innovation and applying nontraditional solutions to long-standing social problems and political issues, and Oakland is all about progressive politics, why are its elected officials so hesitant to try a wide range of ideas to address the city's most intractable problems? It's because some of the same progressives who advocate change also have narrow litmus tests for what ideas should be proposed. That test is so unforgiving that Bishop Bob Jackson, pastor of Acts Full Gospel Church in Oakland, ran up against it this week. Jackson waited four hours on Tuesday for the chance to...

London: Tensions between Britain's government and police leaders flared Saturday over Prime Minister David Cameron's recruitment of a veteran American police commander to advise him on how to combat gangs and prevent a repeat of the past week's riots. The criticism, led by Association of Chief Police Officers leader Sir Hugh Orde, underscored deep tensions between police and Cameron's coalition government over who was most to blame for the failure to stop the four-day rioting that raged in parts of London and other English cities until Wednesday. Cameron criticized police tactics as too timid and announced he would seek policy...

They made for successful but jealous partners, a pair of outsize talents and egos whose relationship crumbled more than a decade ago in a series of public spats. But as Rudolph W. Giuliani runs for president, he appears to be mending fences with William J. Bratton, his former police commissioner in New York and now the police chief of Los Angeles. On a campaign swing through Los Angeles on Monday, Mr. Giuliani met privately with Mr. Bratton, according to aides to both men. “The last time the two met was in 1996 in New York,” Lt. Paul Vernon, a Los...

A crime-fighting theory that says stopping major crimes begins with stopping small ones has influenced policing strategies in Boston and elsewhere since the 1980s. But scholars are starting to question whether fixing broken windows really fixes much at all. ON THURSDAY, Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced a new initiative. The Boston Police Department, he said, will be cracking down on misdemeanor offenses, including loud parties, unleashed dogs, public drinking, and even littering. ''Today we are addressing what may sometimes appear to be smaller issues," the mayor said at a press conference, ''but for those of us familiar with the 'broken...

E-mail Author Author Archive Send to a Friend Version August 17, 2005, 8:08 a.m. Bratton? No. The police chief has some work to do before the rank-and-file will want him back. Once again, I have a bone to pick with the Los Angeles Times. In an editorial in Sunday's edition, the Times made the early case for retaining William Bratton as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department when his five-year contract expires in 2007. Bratton may indeed prove deserving of another term when the time comes, but for now many LAPD officers are unpersuaded. Granted, when compared to...

LOS ANGELES -- The police chief and sheriff of Los Angeles could be candidates to become the next secretary of homeland security, outgoing secretary Tom Ridge says -- but both men say they're not interested in the job. Ridge praised Police Chief William Bratton and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, saying they understand how to protect large cities from terrorism. "These two are doing this for their entire careers, so it's no surprise that their names are being publicly mentioned and maybe even privately discussed," Ridge said Wednesday at a news conference to announce $282 million in homeland-security money...

“The news for New York City is spectacular," New York’s Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told a City Hall press conference on May 24. He and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly [Email him] were claiming credit for new FBI crime stats showing major crimes—murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, car theft, larceny and arson—dropping 5.8% in the city in 2003. New York’s crime rate now ranks it 211th of the 230 U.S. cities with 100,000-plus population—behind Omaha, Nebraska and Wichita, Kansas. Unfortunately, there must have been at least one skeptic at the press conference. Hizzoner reportedly “bristled” at suggestions that...

<p>LONDON -- The British government, in the biggest shake-up in the nation's crime fighting in four decades, yesterday announced a plan for an elite agency modeled on the FBI.</p> <p>With more than 5,000 agents, the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) will target drug barons, international kingpins in human trafficking, major fraud perpetrators and Mafia-style gangsters.</p>

Curious things are happening here in the City of Angels. At police stations all over town, and at the downtown police headquarters building, once-reclusive captains are emerging from their offices to attend roll calls, hang out in detective squad rooms, and otherwise mingle with the troops. "Hey," they say, "how about this Bratton guy?" "Yes," we say, "how about him?"These captains, like the guards in a P.O.W. camp, look to the far horizon and see the liberators approaching. When the tables are at last turned and the gates are smashed open, they most ardently wish for us to report...

White smoke finally appeared over Los Angeles City Hall on Wednesday. At long last, habemus chiefam. Mayor James Hahn has chosen William Bratton to be the next chief of the LAPD, picking the former NYPD commissioner over the two other remaining candidates for the post, former Philadelphia police commissioner John Timoney and Oxnard, California police chief Art Lopez. The selection will be formally announced at a Thursday press conference, but, foreshadowing the reception Bratton can expect from some quarters, the carping has already begun. "[T]he Latino community overall is very disappointed," said city councilman Nick Pacheco, who had been lobbying...