US cop advising UK on crackdown

British Prime Minister David Cameron's new crime advisor says the UK police may want to adopt US methods to tackle the recent unrest but adds that they must deal with the underlying causes.

US "supercop" Bill Bratton, who is to begin advising Cameron in September about his experiences in dealing with gang crime and street violence, said that some of the crime-fighting methods used in the United States might also work in Britain. 

After withering criticism of his leadership during the unrest that recently swept across Britain, Cameron decided to hire the former New York and Los Angeles police chief to help the Tory-led coalition government handle the crisis. 

"I'm being hired by the British government to consult with them on the issue of gangs, gang violence, and gang intervention from the American experience and to offer some advice and counsel on their experience," Bratton said. 

He stated that the British police needs to work more with community leaders and civil rights groups in order to calm racial tensions and advised them to hire more police officers from ethnic minority communities. 

"Part of the issue going forward is how to make policing more attractive to a changing population. Los Angeles and New York had benefited from police forces that reflect the ethnic make-up of the cities. 

"Arrest is certainly appropriate for the most violent, the incorrigible, but so much of it can be addressed in other ways and it's not just a police issue, it is in fact a societal issue," the August 13 edition of The Guardian quoted him as saying. 

Bratton, who is now the chairman of the private security firm Kroll, said that social networks could be practical for law enforcement in controlling gang activities, adding, "The idea is to get ahead of the violence rather than just react to it." 

Meanwhile, Labour MP Jack Dromey has criticized the prime minister's decision to bring in the US supercop to advise the government about gang crime. 

Dromey urged the coalition government to "stop undermining" the police forces and said that the prime minister should rethink his police cut plans. 

The Met Inspectors Branch Board, a leading British police organization, also criticized Cameron's plan to invite a former New York City police chief to help him tackle the unrest. 

"The Association of Chief Police Officers and the Federation understand UK legislation and are in a much better place to advise the PM than an American. 

"Why won't the Prime Minister consult us?" the Met Inspectors Branch Board said in a statement. 

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