Nypd
Situation
Since taking over as commissioner in 1994, William Bratton has transformed NYPD into an effective deterrent of crime through a series of strategic organizational changes. Crime rate in New York has decreased by 25.9% in just a year compared to the average national rate of 5.4%. Now, NYPD’s results oriented strategy needs to sustain its momentum and continue to produce results, despite falling budgets, labor disputes and difficulty in getting resources allocated. In this paper, I will review the challenges Bratton faced, analyze his change decisions and discuss his options to confront new issues.
Critical challenges Bratton faced
NYPD had a long history of reactive investigation of crime, controlled by a strong centralized organization with a top down culture. It lacked technology and methods needed to keep crime rates under control. There was low level of trust in the organization and sharing of information and resources was virtually nonexistent. Growing popularity of community policing was creating tensions between personal deployment strategies and those designed to deal with high crime areas. Public was restive, police force was demoralized and its performance was measured in terms of efforts rather than results. Fighting crime was low priority when compared to other mandates. Evidence also indicates discrepancies in pay at the same ranks and lack of coordination between units due to different reporting lines. Bratton had to undertake a major change initiative to fight crime, boost results and improve the organizational culture.
Bratton’s most important decisions and actions
Bratton success in brining changes to NYPD can be explained using the “Kotter model of leading change”. When Bratton took over NYPD promoting the “broken windows theory”, he brought in a sense of urgency to implement changes in policing philosophy, which demanded strong leadership. Bratton placed Jack maple and Louis Anemone in key positions and hired John Lindner to perform
Since taking over as commissioner in 1994, William Bratton has transformed NYPD into an effective deterrent of crime through a series of strategic organizational changes. Crime rate in New York has decreased by 25.9% in just a year compared to the average national rate of 5.4%. Now, NYPD’s results oriented strategy needs to sustain its momentum and continue to produce results, despite falling budgets, labor disputes and difficulty in getting resources allocated. In this paper, I will review the challenges Bratton faced, analyze his change decisions and discuss his options to confront new issues.
Critical challenges Bratton faced
NYPD had a long history of reactive investigation of crime, controlled by a strong centralized organization with a top down culture. It lacked technology and methods needed to keep crime rates under control. There was low level of trust in the organization and sharing of information and resources was virtually nonexistent. Growing popularity of community policing was creating tensions between personal deployment strategies and those designed to deal with high crime areas. Public was restive, police force was demoralized and its performance was measured in terms of efforts rather than results. Fighting crime was low priority when compared to other mandates. Evidence also indicates discrepancies in pay at the same ranks and lack of coordination between units due to different reporting lines. Bratton had to undertake a major change initiative to fight crime, boost results and improve the organizational culture.
Bratton’s most important decisions and actions
Bratton success in brining changes to NYPD can be explained using the “Kotter model of leading change”. When Bratton took over NYPD promoting the “broken windows theory”, he brought in a sense of urgency to implement changes in policing philosophy, which demanded strong leadership. Bratton placed Jack maple and Louis Anemone in key positions and hired John Lindner to perform