Bill Bratton's Broken Windows Theory

This article demonstrates how Bill Bratton, as the Commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD) from 1994 to 1996, William J. Bratton fought crime throughout the city of Ney York with legendary achievement, leading a national revolution in attitudes toward policing. Bratton adopted a “broken windows”1 community policing strategy of zero tolerance for minor offenses and championed statistical analysis to prevent crimes before they occurred. In the 70s and 80s, as Bratton continued his career in policing, institutional theories seemed dominant. Nixon’s brand of “tough-on-crime” and “law and order” conservatism meant that community relations were largely ignored by police. In 1982, James Wilson sought to re-establish some balance. In

This was not the case in the 1980s. As a result, only certain parts of the broken windows theory were embraced. Policies across the country focused on heavily policing disorder, but largely ignored the community-building aspect. Bill Bratton’s reign as New York City Transit Police Chief in 1990, and later as NYPD Commissioner from 1994-1996, saw him embracing this movement. The broken windows theory was established to target small problems throughout neighborhoods, such as vandalism on walls, litter on sidewalks, or broken windows in abandoned buildings. This theory was established to prevent more serious crime from occurring over time. This article examined the effects of the Broken Windows Policing Approach involving these following topics under the direction of Bill Bratton’s Tenue: implementations, success, and failures. It also demonstrates whether or not the “Broken Windows Effect” has a minimal impact on the crime rate throughout the Bill Bratton’s era and did he remained “an exemplar of “good ‘broken windows’ practice” during his two-year stretch as NYPD commissioner under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Based on this concept, the New York City Police Department implemented a “zero tolerance” policy for policing petty