Word: bratton
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Bratton's vision of justice is old-fashioned. Old Testament--style old-fashioned. At a press conference in the city's gang-ridden 77th division two days after the Rampart roll call, the chief told the story of Laudeina Salazar, 39, who was decorating her Christmas tree on Dec. 12 when a stray bullet "shot by some thug" passed through her front door and killed her. Bratton's message to gangsters with guns was simple: "You use a gun, we're going to put you in jail--in federal jail. You are going to be 1,000 miles from here...
Reducing gang crime in the 77th was one of Bratton's priorities when he took command of the department 15 months ago. He instructed his commanders to get more patrol officers out on the street, make detectives work late nights and weekends, enlist the help of federal law-enforcement agencies like the FBI and the DEA, conduct more search-warrant and surveillance missions and generally get in the gangsters' faces more. Frequently, he would turn up at a late-night crime scene and observe how his officers handled investigations...
Statistically, the results are impressive. Homicides in the 77th dropped 45%, to just 65, last year. But the precinct's experience also provides a case study of the effect that Bratton's more concerted policing can have on a neighborhood suffering from high crime rates. TIME went on night patrols with officers of the 77th at regular intervals over the past 12 months, and it was clear the cops were becoming a lot more aggressive, routinely frisking suspected gangsters on the street on the basis of little more than how they were dressed. But the positive effects are rippling through...
...facilities for kids to the neighborhood. She says new injunctions against gangsters gathering in public have reduced the number of them hanging out on the streets--and the resulting shootings she used to hear. She has seen relations between the police and the community improve too, and she says Bratton deserves a lot of the credit for that. "The vibes I'm getting from the officers at the 77th--it's like the whole atmosphere is changing for the better...
...cops from the 77th station feel the change too. "Bratton promoted kick-ass take-names people--no more touchy-feely stuff," says Officer Perry Griffith, who has been in the L.A.P.D. for 14 years. "Before, the cops were just not getting out on the streets, and the bad guys knew that." Now, he says, cops have been told not to turn a blind eye when their authority is challenged. "We had someone tell a police officer, 'I'll kill you,' last week in front of a group of people," says Griffith. "Now he is in jail. Before, they would have...