Poll: Most NYPD Officers Thought 3-Day Retraining Program Was Useful
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An internal poll has revealed that the majority of officers who have completed a retraining program following the death of Eric Garner thought it had a positive effect, according to the Mayor's office.
The poll conducted by the NYPD was contrary to a New York Post report that appeared earlier this week, in which an anonymous high-ranking police official said 80 percent of officers thought the three-day program a "waste of time" and said many officers fell asleep during the program.
Phil Walzak, press secretary for Mayor Bill de Blasio, said the police survey indicated that the opposite is true.
"Anywhere from 70 to 85 percent of those involved receiving the three-day training thought it was useful," Walzak told 1010 WINS. "This is about 5, 6,000 officers who have taken it thus far. Another 20,000 officers are expected to receive the training by the end of June."
Mayor de Blasio and police Commissioner Bill Bratton have both defended the program aggressively amid the Post's criticism.
"The New York Post, and interestingly all of the sources were unnamed, which the New York Post seems to prefer. So, I don't think I'm being presented with anything in those reports but some disgruntled individuals," the mayor said earlier this week.
"The Post persists in taking some unnamed individuals and trying to cast dispersions on a program created, again, by the greatest police leader in the country," the mayor added. "It's ridiculous."
Bratton this week defended the training as "very effective," adding the department has polled officers on their reaction to the training.
"Sixty percent agreed or strongly agreed that it would increase the likelihood that they would only use the minimum amount of force, if necessary. Seventy percent said it would improve their ability to manage conflict in the street," Bratton said.
Bratton also dismissed the source used by the Post.
"The disgruntled individual, quite obviously, is not happy with the training," Bratton said. "Garbage in, garbage out."
The retraining program was created in the wake of the death of Eric Garner on Staten Island last year. Garner died after being put in an apparent chokehold by an officer, whom a grand jury later declined to indict.
