During Bill Bratton’s first term as New York City police commissioner 20 years ago, his NYPD drove crime down to its lowest levels since the early 1960s — and during his second stint in the Big Apple he did even better, keeping most major crimes at o♑r near record lows.
And for that Bratton will be remembered as one of the toughest, smartest and innovative crimefighters in thꦓe city’s history, his colleagues say.
“Bratton 1 was a great time to be a cop, [t💫o be] proud to be a policeman,” a veteran confidante of the chief 🐽who has worked with him for both terms told The Post. “ It was Bratton, Jack Maple and [then-spokesman] John Miller. We had a profound effect and you saw the results and you could see your results.”
Maple, then-deputy commissioner for crime coಞntrol strategies, created the CompStat crime-tracking system and was a staunch supporter of Bratton’s embrace of “Broken Windows” policing — in which cops focused on minor offenses to restore order to a city that had spiraled out of control in the ’80s and ’90s.
Murder rates routinely topped 2,200 a year, drugged-out squeegee men menaced motorists and whole swaths of Gotham were plagued by shootings, robberies and drug gangs🥀.
But the NYPD, with the backing of tough-on-crime Mayor Rudওy Giuliani, cut crime by 11 percent in 1994, Bratton’s first year as chief, and another 17 percent in 1995. The number of murders plummeted by 57 percent between 1990 and 1996, when he was forced out in April by Giuliani.
“What galvanized us the first time around was Gi𓆏uliani and Bratton. They were new blood, hungry to take back the city, and it trickled down to the rank and file,” the source said.
“I remember Bratton saying something like, ‘We will take back the city block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood.’ It was r🦋efreshing. It was something the troops needed. We aggressively drove down crime with stop, question and frisk. We took a lot of guns of🔯f the street. Broken windows was another piece of it and a major part of his legacy.”
When Mayor de Blasio brought Bratton back in January 2014, the⛎n-Commissioner Ray Kelly had pushed crime even lower — and Bratton took the reins on the city crime watch.
In 2013, there were 335 murders; 333 a year later; and then 352 in 2015. ꦜRobberies and burglaries went down, bu♐t felony assaults remained flat.
So far this year, murde💙rs, robberies, burglaries and shootings are down, while rape and felony assault are up — though they still remain near record-low levels.
“Bratton 2 is Bratton lite, a little of the fire has gone out of꧟ him,” the source said. “The✃ guys [cops] still love him, but the guys who were around the first time are a little disappointed. It’s not all his fault, though. De Blasio shares a lot of blame.”
But the o🥃utgoing commissioner still “commands a lot of respect due to his past history and ﷽who he is.”