Copyright © The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press.
Opinion |
The Unintended Consequences of September 11th
* Chief of Police, Los Angeles Police Department, USA. Email: malinowski@lapd.lacity.org
William Bratton, Chief of Los Angeles Police Department, describes how the law enforcement paradigm in the United States has shifted dramatically since 11 September, and how the reallocation of federal resources to combating terror has impacted on fighting organized crime.
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The world is a markedly different place than it was on 10 September 2001.
I had left policing and was traveling the globe helping local police grapple with their crime problems. The crime reduction successes in New York, and the tipping point effect across the United States in the 1990s resulted in an optimism that the police can and do make a difference. The lives saved and revenue generated for cities that had driven crime down and increased their tax base inspired a new sense of cooperation between the federal authorities and local law enforcement.
Then it happened. In a matter of a few hours, on the morning of 11 September 2001, as the world watched the unfolding events surrounding the attack on the World Trade Center in New York, everything changed. Our view of the world, our priorities, our sense of commitment, all evolved, in a sense, in the