Former NYPD top cop William Bratton shot down British reports yesterday that Prime Minister David Cameron had contacted him about running scandal-scarred Scotland Yard.
"They have not reached out to me, and I have not reached out to them," Bratton told the Daily News.
"If a position were open, it's certainly something I would consider," Bratton added. "But at the moment, it looks like they have excluded it to British citizens only."
The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that Cameron reached out informally to Bratton about taking over the country's beleaguered police force.
But Home Secretary Theresa May struck down the move, saying any applicant had to be a British citizen, as the advertisement for the job specifies. The home secretary has the power to appoint the new chief.
Cameron's Downing St. office insisted it had not approached anyone to head the force that has been rocked by scandal.
Last month, Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson resigned amid allegations that the News of the World bribed his officers during a phone-hacking investigation.
The Sunday tabloid, which has since been shuttered, was accused of hacking into the cell phones of murder victims and their families.
Cameron raised the prospect of hiring a foreign police chief last month in a statement to British Parliament.
"Why shouldn't someone who has been a proven success overseas be able to help turn around a force at home?" he asked.
A spokesman for Cameron's office said proposals to make foreigners eligible were being considered as part of a review of police pay and conditions.
"The PM and home secretary both agree that we should look at radical proposals for the future of leadership in the police service," the spokesman said.
An advertisement for the job states, "Applicants must be British citizens."
"The notion that you can ship someone in from another country to run a police force in a different environment and a different culture is quite simply stupid," Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said.
Citing government sources, The Daily Telegraph said May had no objection to Bratton personally, but didn't want to fill the post with someone who had no experience with British culture and policing.
Bratton, who was also chief in Boston and Los Angeles, was a key figure in putting the "broken windows theory" into practice in New York City in the 1990s.
The policy led to a "zero tolerance" approach to policing in which all offenses were investigated no matter how minor. It was credited with drastically cutting the city's murder rate.
Bratton left police work in 2010 to become chairman of Kroll, a global investigative firm.
Bratton said that his position at Kroll would be an "issue" if the job were on the table.
"I'm with a fabulous company and travel the world on their behalf," Bratton said. "It would create a delicious dilemma."
No comments:
Post a Comment