Chief Bill Bratton is expected to announce today that he plans to resign from the Los Angeles Police Department to take over as the top gun of a private security firm.
According to radio reports, he has accepted a job at Altegrity Inc., which is based in Falls Church, Virginia. The company is owned by Rhode Island's Providence Equity
Partners of Providence, which focuses on media, entertainment,
communications, and information investments, and manages more than $22
billion in equity commitments. Bratton's boss will be Michael Cherkasky who became CEO of its 8,000
global employees earlier this year. Cherkasky was CEO
at New York-based professional services firm Marsh & McLennan
Companies Inc.
Bratton will travel around the world helping cities
institute a tracking system to follow crime. He will reportedly begin
his new job in three months.
Bratton, who was hired in 2002, helped reshape the LAPD, and was highly
touted for increasing the department's morale, which had sagged for
years under former police chief Bernard Parks.
According to
the Los Angeles Times, the termination of the LAPD's consent decree last month
“seemed to signal a major turning point for Bratton and his outlook on
his tenure at the LAPD. With the department now free of what he
believed was the heavy stigma of federal oversight, there appeared to
be little new for Bratton to focus his energies on.”
In recent months, Bratton has been criticized
for his political endorsements. The 61-year-old chief appeared on
television endorsing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who was running for a
second term. He did the same for former L.A. City Councilman Jack Weiss, who
was running for City Attorney. He also endorsed City
Controller Wendy Greuel, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark
Ridley-Thomas, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Critics argued that Bratton had no business endorsing political pals.
Bratton leaves with three years remaining on his term.
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