NYC Leaders Release Report With Suggestions To Improve Police-Community Relations
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Local leaders and a civil rights advocate have released a list of reform suggestion for the NYPD.
After seven public forums and four Google Hangouts, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and civil rights attorney Norman Siegel have sent out a 200-page report on improvements for the police department.
"This was not a 'I hate the police report' or gathering," Adams said.
Among the suggestions: doubling cadet training time from six months to a year and allowing officers to take sabbaticals, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
Adams said he could have used one when he was a cop.
"When someone shot at my car and shot out the windows of my car, I was overwhelmed. I was worried about my son and how it impacted him," said Adams.
The borough president added that if officers don't have time to think about it, they can turn on a community they blame and become aggressive, Lamb reported.
Brewer said the report was also about humanizing police officers, 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported.
"We heard from officers who knew their communities well, and from those who were not yet aware of the details of the new NYPD policies and practices," Brewer said.
And Siegel said he thinks Mayor Bill de Blasio could have learned a lot from the meetings.
"The idea of not participating in Town Hall meetings, that he and his staff were invited to, what does that say?" Siegel said.
Adams said ultimately the report examines how to improve relationships between police and the community and reach common ground.