Former US Super-Cop Bratton: Top Mercenary of the Global Police State

William J. Bratton deserves the title of America’s super cop as a decorated former Chief of the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). In 2009, Bratton announced that he would leave the LAPD. He decided to monetize his skills learned in the US public sector by creating a private international security firm called Altegrity Security Company. In late 2010, Bratton became chairman of Kroll Associates a New York based security firm that advises police forces globally and provides private security for wealthy clients worldwide. Bratton was also on President Obama’s short list to head the US Department of Homeland Security, but ultimately the Obama administration decided to go with the “softer touch” by choosing Janet Napolitano for the job.

It seems  that Bratton just got his biggest pay check so far.  A very big client came knocking on his door for help: British Prime Minister David Cameron. After the London’s riots in August, PM Cameron announced to the British parliament that Bratton would be consulted to fight “criminal gangs.”  The British government wants to see the riots as a police problem, as a criminal gangs issue which is exactly Bratton’s area of policing expertise. In  Bratton’s view, all gang problems are universal, but yet in his very own statement  he spoke more about social problems than policing issues.

“The issue of why kids join gangs are universal: they feel disenfranchised, many come from broken homes without parents in any sense of the word,” said Bratton.

The appearance of Bratton as UK super cop/social worker  is getting mixed reviews in Britain. Many people from London police see Bratton’s hiring as a slap in the face.

“We just feel that it is a sad indictment of what the government thinks of  senior officers in this country. They have decades of experience of policing in this country,” said Siobhan Saga a detective inspector from London police.

In the global security  business Bratton has a promising future. Bratton has joined forces in the civilian part of  the Empire  global police state  with his military counterpart: Blackwater’s Erik Prince. Blackwater is the biggest private military in the world, and its biggest client is the US government.

They were discretely dispatched in New Orleans post Katrina by the Bush administration, and still operate as the Praetorian Guard of the Empire under the Obama administration.  Blackwater specialist, writer and reporter for The Nation, Jeremy Scahill, coined the expression “Praetorian Guard”, to describe Blackwater during the Bush era. Blackwater’s mercenaries are currently conducting operations all over the world, providing security for the State Department and shadowing for the CIA and US army special forces. While Bratton learned his skills on the “tough beats” of  Los Angeles and New York City, Prince got his with the Navy Seals.

PM Cameron might be watching too many US cop shows on TV, and by confusing reality with fiction, could be under the impression that America’s cops have a special gift. A point could  be made that hiring an outsider is a good idea, but Mr. Cameron is missing the big picture by turning a social policy problem into a criminal problem. The August riots had a political meaning and undertone. Mr. Cameron should try to fix the deep problems of economic  injustice in Britain rather than search for a solution through repression and policing.