Commissioner Bratton Looks To Shake Up Rookie Cops' Typical First Year On The Job
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton says he wants to change the way rookie cops are assigned after they graduate from the police academy.
As 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reported Friday, Bratton said the head of police training is working on a new plan "to try and design a program where we can once again use the recruits to come out of the academy and go through a, uh, more comprehensive recruit training environment during their first year."
Commissioner Bratton Looks To Shake Up Rookie Cops' Typical First Year On The Job
In recent years rookies were immediately assigned to Operation Impact, a program that floods high-crime areas with cops who would aggressively enforce the laws.
Bratton said Operation Impact will stay, but rookies won't be out there on their own. The police commissioner said he thinks rookie cops should be paired up with more experienced officers, instead of with each other.
Commissioner Bratton Looks To Shake Up Rookie Cops' Typical First Year On The Job
"Where they get to interact with the public. Not just enforcing the majority of the time, but helping, responding and spending more time being mentored," Bratton explained.
The Police Benevolent Association released a statement agreeing with the changes that Bratton is planning.
"This proposal is consistent with the union's philosophy of training. It is important to have experienced police officers sharing their knowledge with our newer officers. Using rookies to meet numbered targets under the former system resulted in many of the problems we are now in the process of solving," the statement said. "We prefer to have our members solving problems in our communities and this proposal moves us towards that goal. We look forward to having a dialog regarding this concept."
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