FINANCIAL TIMES: New York mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has chosen Bill Bratton, the veteran police chief credited with cutting crime in several US cities, to head the country’s largest police force.
The appointment – among the most significant Mr de Blasio will make as he prepares to replace Michael Bloomberg in January – will return a champion of aggressive policing to New York police headquarters at a time when the department is under scrutiny for its use of “stop and frisk”, a crime prevention tactic that opponents say unfairly targets minorities.
The Boston-born Mr Bratton, 66, also returns to public service in a city that has greatly changed from when he last served as police commissioner in the 1990s under mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Crime rates have fallen to historic lows, with New York on track to record the lowest annual number of murders in its modern history and the lowest homicide rate of any big US city this year… (more)
