The New York City Council is currently meeting with NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton to determine if the department intends to provide officers with new training in the wake of Eric Garner's fatal choking in July. Garner, 43, died after an officer applied a chokehold in an attempt to subdue him. His death was ruled a homicide by the city medical examiner last month.
According to Erin Durkin, a City Hall reporter for the New York Daily News, the NYPD is planning a course which will retrain officers, teaching them how much force is necessary in certain situations:
NYPD is designing new 3 day course to train cops how to arrest uncooperative person w/o using force, and how to use force w/o harming them.
— Erin Durkin (@erinmdurkin) September 8, 2014
So, basically, officers will now be trained on how to do their jobs correctly. Still, Durkin said Bratton insists that most officers know correct procedures and conduct, it's just that recent media coverage had made it seem like the use of excessive force is common:
.@CommissBratton: recent coverage has made it seem NYPD use of force it common, but actually cops have "extraordinary record of restraint."
— Erin Durkin (@erinmdurkin) September 8, 2014
.@CommissBratton: 1.9% of arrests include use of force, the lowest rate ever. Was 4.6% in 2004.
— Erin Durkin (@erinmdurkin) September 8, 2014
The new course will be introduced in November, with Bratton noting that it will be costly:
20K cops who regularly serve on patrol will get this new course starting in November. Rest will get it in new annual in service training.
— Erin Durkin (@erinmdurkin) September 8, 2014
.@CommissBratton says there will be "substantial" cost to new training, including increased overtime.
— Erin Durkin (@erinmdurkin) September 8, 2014
In addition, the NYPD is developing an "early warning" system to identify potentially problematic cops before they do wrong.
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