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Mayor De Blasio: NYPD Precinct Commanders Will Be Chosen With Input From Council Of Community Members

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea have announced a new NYPD reform aimed at improving the relationship between community residents and police officers.

"I'm announcing today a change in how we select the most important frontline leaders of the NYPD," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.

De Blasio says effective immediately, the Precinct Community Council, a group of citizens dedicated to improving policing, will help choose the top cops in their neighborhoods.

"The precinct commander sets the tone. The precinct commander gives the men and women who patrol that neighborhood a sense of direction and the values they should bring to the work," the mayor said.

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As CBS2's Natalie Duddridge reports, when the next precinct commander position opens, the precinct council will receive three to five candidates to interview and then provide feedback to the commissioner, who will still make the final decision.

But the community will continue to evaluate the commanding officer's performance.

"People want to feel a connection to their NYPD, and especially at the leadership positions, and this I think really goes very far into building that trust both ways," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said.

Watch: Mayor De Blasio Gives Update On Police Reform In NYC --

The idea was suggested by Brooklyn Borough President and former NYPD officer Eric Adams.

"I joined the NYPD as a young man 35 years ago, it's almost hard to believe, but the goal was to change it from the inside. Sometimes I would wear a bulletproof vest policing communities at night and then lead marches for police reform during the day," he said.

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The change comes a week after the mayor implemented a new discipline matrix, a list of penalties for officer offenses, such as termination for chokeholds. The mayor has vowed more reforms are on the way.

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