William J. Bratton Sworn In As NYPD Commissionor

New York - William Bratton is officially taking the reins of the nation’s largest police department, becoming the 42nd police commissioner at a time when there is a demand for big change, especially in the area of stop-and-frisk.

The city’s new police commissioner was publicly sworn in by Mayor Bill de Blasio at One Police Plaza on Thursday.

“Who says you can’t come home again? It is home, and it is great to be back,” said Bratton, who also served as the department’s 38th commissioner under then Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Bratton takes over the New York City Police Department with a big burden — keeping crime down and making the department more sensitive to the needs of minority communities, CBS 2 reported.

“What I’ve said to him is clear and concise, I want him to do what he knows how to do best — to use the best technology and tactics, to focus our efforts on the criminals, on the problem areas, on the hot spots to make our streets and neighborhoods even safer,” de Blasio said.

Bratton is a believer in the “broken windows” theory of policing that if minor, petty crime is not dealt with, crime will increase, CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer reported.

He believes in an ethnically diverse police force representative of the population, maintaining strong community relations, being tough on gangs and has no tolerance for anti-social behavior, Kramer reported.

Joining Bratton is former CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, who will be in charge of anewly developed counterterrorism unit.

“I think what we’re seeing is a time when the threat has spread out and it’s much more driven, not by al Qaeda’s central command, but al Qaeda-ism on the Internet where that message has gone forth to a wider group,” Miller said.

READ MORE: CBSNewYork

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