Angella Johnson
This is the man who believes he can do for South Africa what he is credited with having done to New York’s crime — slashed it by 27% over two years.
Bill Bratton (48) rides into town on Wednesday bringing with him a style of policing which he plans to sell around the world. The man who was the 38th police commissioner of New York City until April this year, has turned crime busting into big business.
His company, First Security Consulting Inc, is marketing the New York programme which resulted in about 115 000 fewer victims last year and a 40% drop in crime since 1990.
A strong advocate of community policing, he moved towards a decentralised police bureaucracy, stronger precinct commands, and better-trained and motivated officers.
Debates over the causes of a reduction in such crimes as homicide (39%) and robbery (30%) during his reign continue to rage. Some claim the drop is a result of demographic shifts and a reduction of drug use that is mirrored across the country. Others argue that the sharp increase in the police force is the key ingredient.
Undoubtedly these factors did play a part. But Bratton’s real achievement was to run his department like a business, with crime as the product. Profit was measured by a reduction in the figures.
Each precinct operated like a subsidiary company and it was the responsibility of the commander to ensure his officers reached their targets. Once a month, precinct commanders were summoned to Bratton’s office for a numbers grilling. If they were up (say in a specific area like robberies) the commander was expected to find a way to get them down.
Bratton took a huge, hierarchical and centralised organisation with the commissioner having absolute control and decentralised it, giving power to area commanders.
His management technique encourages democratic policing which focuses equally on crime prevention and fear reduction.
It is a plan which exposes some of the weaknesses of national Police Commissioner George Fivaz’s controversial “Sword and Shield” crime plan, and one which impressed Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale during a recent trip to America.
Bratton is due to meet with Sexwale and other government officials during a series of talks in Johannesburg and Pretoria.