William Bratton Analytical Book Review

BOOK REVIEW : WILLIAM BRATTON

William Bratton is noted for his exemplary contribution in the Los Angeles Police Department with more than 32 years of law enforcement experience . His book entitled Turnaround which he co-authored with Peter Knobler (1998 ) is just one of the many achievements under his sleeves

The book describes in full detail how a well-managed police effort can actually affect the reduction of crime . Bratton 's career is peppered with various accomplishments which makes him an efficient crime writer He is behind the turn around of the Massachusetts Bay Transit

Authority (MBTA , the Metropolitan Police , which is now part of the Massachusetts State Police , the New York Transit Police , Boston Police , and the New York Police Department (NYPD

The Book (Turnaround 1998 ) shows Bratton 's belief in the Broken Windows theory , which translates that that acceptance of petty crime establishes an environment that creates more serious crime . He also believes in the analysis of crime statistics by location , time , among others to ascertain how to deploy police resources : originally pins on a map eventually growing in to the famous CompStat . Bratton learned that by dropping the amount of city-wide petty crime , he was also able to reduce the number of city-wide serious crime

In Turnaround (1998 ) Bratton illustrates the police efforts that led to these successes . Together with his peers , Bratton used computer mapping to pinpoint crime hot spots and then cleaned up the areas using all the tools of law enforcement . One of the favored tools was "quality of life enforcement " which decreases minor crimes such as panhandling squeegeeing , and prostitution to make the streets less enticing to worse criminals . He made police commanders from all districts of the city accountable by requiring them to report on progress and problems in their locales during frequent departmental meetings

What makes the book interesting is the mention of various cities where Bratton have worked and references of various people as well . His stint at the Los Angeles Police Department is such a fascinating part of the book . LAPD has been beset by scandal , incompetent leadership , and low morale and high employee turnover . Crimes such as reckless driving littering and graffiti are ever-persistent which makes his stay more exciting

The book tells the story of Bratton from his childhood years growing up in Boston to becoming the most important police officer in the United States which may inspire many of the readers who may wish to take the same steps Bratton decided to take . Bratton (1998 ) depicts the type of power politics that are being played in police departments . He described in details the negative things that occur at police headquarters . He pointed the run-ins he had with members of the old guard at the Boston police department , as well as his famous battles with Rudolph Giuliani while he was head of the NYPD

The book is trying to tell us that crimes can be solved and our cities will be more interesting to live in if we have cops...