Bill Bratton: Supercop?

You'll have probably heard a lot in the last few days about this American policeman who's about to turn up and 'sort out' everything that's wrong with the criminal justice system. As always with these contentious issues, what we're told arrives in our eyes and ears through the prism of political ideologies, whether that message is mediated by The Guardian, Fox News or Radio 5. The message is rarely, if ever, neutral.

To give you a flavour of what Bill Bratton is all about here's a video showing his talk from last year at the Policy Exchange, a right-wing charity who attempt to influence government policy. He starts talking 8 minutes into the video if you want to skip the introductions. It's a long talk and I wouldn't expect you to watch it all, but if you manage 15 minutes you'll get a taste of why he's being courted by certain interest groups.