William J. Bratton Quotes

Lives are saved when those potential killers are confronted by a police officer, a strong police presence and actual, honest-to-goodness, up-close 'What are you guys doing on this corner at 1 o'clock in the morning' policing. We need to be careful it doesn't drift away from us in the age of viral videos, or there will be profound consequences.

Broken-windows enforcement is really about controlling behavior to such an extent you change it: If you deal with the little things, you can keep them from going into the big things. Zero tolerance implies zealotry. It's oppressive. And it's not achievable. You're never going to be in a position to eliminate all crime.

You can be stopped if a police officer reasonably suspects a crime is about to be committed, is being committed or has been committed. Every law enforcement agency does it. It's essential to policing.

Asking questions is an essential part of police investigation. In the ordinary sense a police officer is free to ask a person for identification without implicating the Fourth Amendment.

The police need to come down to street level.

All issues of crime are better addressed at the state level.

Cops on the beat can stop problems before the damage spreads.

My 26 years experience as a police officer and official, including command of two police districts, tells me that unfortunately the only short-term response that can counter the on-street violence and offer neighborhoods relief from crime and drugs is aggressive law enforcement.... Cities and states have made police the institution of first response rather than of last resort in addressing this crisis.

Fighting crime is not cheap, because it requires boots on the ground.

Rule of law is based on probable cause.

There's a perception that police are less likely to do the marginal additional policing that suppresses crime: the getting out of your car at 2 in the morning and saying to a group of guys, 'What are you doing here?'

Strategies that do show evidence of effectiveness include policing that's focused on high-risk individuals or geographic areas, and/or deterrence-based approaches that hold entire gangs accountable should individual members engage in criminal behavior.

Without a beat officer system, there can be no crime prevention or supportive investigation. This is the very foundation of sound policing. It is the beat officer who connects with the common man on a daily basis and is the five senses of his area.

The police should be focused on policing criminal activity, and that's sort of the beginning, the middle and the end of it for me.

If a police officer is looking for a criminal, he or she might stop a number of people in that particular area and ask to see their driver's license. No one bellyaches about civil rights or privacy issues. We're just happy the cops are trying to find the bad guy.

Officers who use stop and search appropriately, with reasonable grounds and in a targeted and intelligence-led way, will always have my full support.

Putting cops on streets is the most effective way to combat crime.

I don't pick up people. This is the work of the police. If there's anybody with a case, it's the police, not me.

When the police officers knock on your door with a warrant, they don't expect you to give them a tour. It's supposed to be an adversarial process so that it's used in these extraordinary powers are applied only when there's no alternative. Only when they're absolutely necessary, and only when they're proportionate to the threat faced by these individuals.

I wouldn't call it "police reform," but I would say that police procedure enhancement could be helpful - these police shootings are absolutely horrible.

Well, you know what happens to crime when the heat goes up.

The Department of Justice transcends party because we're building on the Weed and Seed program.

Law enforcement in America is a force for good.

If he who breaks the law is not punished, he who obeys it is cheated. This, and this alone, is why lawbreakers ought to be punished: to authenticate as good, and to encourage as useful, law-abiding behavior. The aim of criminal law cannot be correction or deterrence; it can only be the maintenance of the legal order.

While I live, every criminal must die.