He sorted out the crime situation in New York before falling out with then mayor Rudi Giuliani and moving with his head held high and his gun holstered to Los Angeles to weed out the ne'er-do-wells in that city.

So impressive is Chief Bratton that our own minister for justice Michael McDowell went to see him last month in LA to get his take on dealing with gangland violence.

Perhaps McDowell can identify with the man who calls himself America's Top Cop. There are those who would argue that our minister is cut from the same cloth as Bratton. Michael McDowell is from the mean streets of Ranelagh, man, a former attorney general and tough on crime. He doesn't have the Goodfellas accent, but he wants us to know that he means business.

McDowell has told the nation that gangland violence is the greatest threat to our democracy since paramilitary violence was at its peak. No doubt he felt, prior to his LA trip, that Bill Bratton could help him out. I'm sure he thought that the gun-toting rebels in LA are kindred spirits of those who wield weapons in Ireland. He had found in Bratton a man with whom he could stand shoulder to shoulder in the transatlantic fight against violence.

But last week it emerged that the dream of solidarity may not be all it was cracked up to be. Bratton was in Ireland recently and when I spoke to him he left me in no doubt that our criminals are in baby infants compared to the big boys he has to deal with.

I asked him what advice he gave the minister for justice when he went to see him in LA.

"None, " he said flatly, as if he was giving evidence in court. "Mr McDowell was just there to observe how we do things." Shocked at the suggestion that he didn't see the minister as his equal in the fight for justice, I asked him how he rated our gangland problems here. He told me that the problem we face is minuscule in comparison to what he has to deal with. He said we are lucky to have a society in which firearms are only carried by the few.

But what about the chilling warnings we have heard from McDowell on crime?

Before I spoke to the chief, I was convinced there were powerful guns on every street in Ireland. Not so, says the man you don't mess with. He risked the wrath of the Irish criminal mafia by saying their weapons are so rubbish that they are more likely to go off in the hands of the perpetrators than they are to kill the intended victims.

Bratton reckons we are lucky in Ireland.

We have a peaceful society where the majority of people behave themselves and, he thinks, a great and plentiful resource in the gardai to deal with the menaces. He says our ratio of gardai to civilians is perfect and, with a bit of organisation, the force should have no problem with dangerous crime.

This is at odds with what we have heard from Michael McDowell. He has fired shots at the gardai over their handling of criminals. He also had a go at the judiciary for being lenient with sentencing. All of this came to a head when the details of the Criminal Justice Bill were revealed earlier this month. It's a tough new charter, which will give violent criminals nowhere to run if they are apprehended. Once enacted, the bill will give additional powers to gardai and US-style anti-racketeering laws will be included.

But following on from the visit to our shores of the King of Law Enforcement, we have to wonder if all of this is really necessary. Perhaps he is right, perhaps we have all of the tools we need to deal with crime and it is just a matter of using them the right way to get results.

Bratton did sound a warning over disenchanted emigrants who arrive in Ireland and are not assimilated into our society. This element, he points out, could get into trouble if they do not feel part of our society. Some may move into a criminal lifestyle borne out of frustration at not being able to assimilate.

This sounds like good advice. From experience, he is saying gardai need to deal with immigrants in a compassionate manner, consistently and constitutionally.

This superhero cop knows what he is talking about. He is coming from a country where there are 16,000 murders every year. Considering this figure, it is perhaps no surprise that he sees Michael McDowell's problems as "minuscule".

Once I had concluded my interview with the chief, I really hoped that he hadn't been too mean to Michael McDowell when the latter went to see him in LA. The Tanaiste feels he has a crisis on his hands and to be told by the expert in the field (who I bet wears chaps and spurs at the weekends) that it's small-fry must be a crushing blow.

But maybe the minister should think about taking the advice offered last week. Re-organise the policing of this country and sort out violent crime by working it out from the rank-and-file up.

And as for spending more time in the US with Bill Bratton? I'd put a tenner on the chief of the LAPD looking McDowell in the eye while chewing on a used match and checking he's armed and ready before telling him to 'forgeddabouit'. . .

Claire Byrne presents 'The Breakfast Show' with Ger Gilroy on Newstalk 106 to 108FM Monday to Friday from 6.30am to 9am