New Episode of The Beat!

William (Bill) Bratton has become so widely known throughout American law enforcement that his last name belongs to the profession as much as it does to his family. If you walk into almost any precinct, district, or station house in the United States and simply say “Bratton,” officers will know exactly who you are talking about, and they will be familiar with his impact on the profession.

Beginning his career as a military police officer in 1966, Bratton progressed through the ranks quickly. In 1970, one day after his 23rd birthday, he pinned on a Boston Police Department badge. Just 10 years later, he held the second highest post in that department.

In 1990, he took command of the New York City Transit Police, and in 1994, he became the 38th Commissioner of the New York City Police Department and led what has been arguably been called the most significant turnaround of any department in history. Many of the standard practices and principles Bratton instituted in New York are now indispensable components of many police departments throughout the country today.

In 2002, he began an unprecedented three-term appointment as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department before returning to be the Commissioner in New York City once again in 2013, making him the only person to have led the nation’s two largest police departments.

Bratton joins The Beat, the COPS Office podcast series, to discuss his career, the current state of law enforcement, and principles that he believes are critical to doing the job the right way.

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