William J. Bratton

William J. Bratton is one of the world’s most respected and trusted experts on risk and security issues. During a 46-year career in law enforcement, he instituted progressive change while leading six police departments, including seven years as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and two nonconsecutive terms as the Police Commissioner of the City of New York. He is the only person ever to lead the police agencies of America’s two largest cities. Now as Executive Chairman of Teneo Risk, Commissioner Bratton advises clients on risk identification, prevention, and response.

Prior to assuming his role at Teneo Risk, Commissioner Bratton was the 42nd police commissioner of the City of New York from January 2014 to September 2016. It was the second time he had held the post. During that time he oversaw 32 months of declining crime, including historic lows for murders and robberies. At the same time, he implemented an unprecedented Neighborhood Policing program to close the gap between the NYPD and some of the communities it serves. Neighborhood Policing refocused resources on the underlying issues in individual neighborhoods, connected cops with community partners, enhanced outreach and communication strategies, and was a cornerstone of “precision policing”—the practice of targeting the few who create crime and disorder while safeguarding the many. Commissioner Bratton also spearheaded the first major technological overhaul in the NYPD in years, the Mobile Digital Initiative, which gave a smartphone with custom-designed apps to every officer and put a tablet in every patrol car. These devices put an entire precinct’s data capabilities in the palm of an officer’s hand, allowing him to read details about calls for help, research locations of interest, search names and license plates, and complete paperwork—all while remaining in the field. Additionally, the ever-changing threat picture in the world’s number one target for terrorism mandated major reforms to the NYPD’s already robust counterterrorism capabilities. In response, Commissioner Bratton developed two new units—the Critical Response Command (CRC) and the Strategic Response Group (SRG)—which now provide the city with more than 1,000 highly trained and properly equipped officers who are dedicated to counterterrorism, large-scale mobilizations, site security, and rapid deployment citywide.

A U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, Commissioner Bratton began his career in 1970 as a beat cop in the Boston Police Department. In 1976 he was awarded the department’s highest citation for valor—The Schroeder Brothers Memorial Medal—for facing down a bank robber and rescuing a hostage. By 1980 he had risen to Superintendent of Police, the BPD’s highest sworn position.

In the 1990s, Commissioner Bratton established an international reputation for re-engineering police departments and fighting crime. As Chief of the New York City Transit Police, Boston Police Commissioner, and in his first term as New York City Police Commissioner, he revitalized morale and cut crime in all three posts, achieving the largest crime declines in New York City’s history. At the NYPD in 1994 and 1995, he led the development of CompStat, the internationally acclaimed command accountability system now in use by police departments nationwide. CompStat employs accurate, real-time intelligence, rapid deployment of resources, relentless follow-up, and accountability systems to focus the work of police on stopping crimes before they happen. As Los Angeles Police Chief from 2002 to 2009, in a city known for its entrenched gang culture and youth violence, he brought crime to historically low levels, greatly improved race relations, and reached out to young people with a range of innovative police programs. While at the LAPD he also led the creation of its Real Time and Predictive Policing initiatives.

Commissioner Bratton also served as Chief Executive Officer of the Bratton Group LLC from 2012 through 2013. The Bratton Group provided a wide range of consulting, leadership, management, and public-safety services to public- and private-sector clients in the United States and abroad. The group specialized in community-based crime-reduction efforts, community partnerships, maximization of technology and software, anti-corruption and anti-terrorism strategies, creative training, leadership development, enhanced investigation techniques, and organizational realignment.

A noted author, commentator, and consultant, Police Commissioner Bratton holds a Bachelor’s degree from Boston State College (now the University of Massachusetts Boston) and is a graduate of the FBI National Executive Institute. At Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, he was a Senior Executive Fellow in Criminal Justice and a member of the school’s National Executive Session on Policing. He has twice served as President of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and in 2009 served as President of the Major Cities Chiefs Association.

The recipient of many honors throughout his career, Mr. Bratton was named by Security magazine as one of 2010’s most influential people in the security industry based on his leadership qualities and the positive impact that his work has made on organizations, colleagues, and the general public. This was the second time in two years that he has appeared on the magazine’s list of most influential security executives. In 2007 he received Governing Magazine’s “Public Official of the Year award.” In January 1996 he appeared on the cover of Time Magazine and was featured in the article “Finally, We’re Winning the War Against Crime.” And in 2009, for his collaborative efforts in working with U.S. and British police forces, he was recognized by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the honorary title Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

His critically acclaimed autobiography Turnaround, with Peter Knobler, was published by Random House in 1998. In 2021 he published The Profession, a memoir of community, race, and and the arc of policing in America. In 2012, Mr. Bratton and Zachary Tumin, a senior researcher at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, co-authored a management leadership book, Collaborate or Perish!, where they lay out a field-tested playbook for collaborating across the boundaries of our networked world.