Changing the "Culture of Policing" - One Recruit at a Time
"A $950 million, eight-story state-of-the art police academy facility that looks like a college campus is the face of the dramatic 'culture change' the New York Police Department (NYPD) hopes to introduce to a new generation of recruits.

Completed in 2014, the building boasts a cafeteria, an 800-seat auditorium, a two-floor library, a 45,000-square foot gym and an Olympic-size swimming pool.

The university resemblance is no accident.

'When you talk about training, environment matters,' said Tracie Keesee, who became the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Training in February, 2016.

Until recently, recruits to the nation’s largest police force squeezed into an overcrowded and outdated building in lower Manhattan.

Plans for the academy were approved during the era of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly in 2007, but under prodding from Kelly’s successor,  William Bratton, New York’s City Council finally agreed to a major upgrade that included a move to the new 700,000 square foot facility in Queens, NY.

A key driver of the change was the growing concern about the interaction between police officers and New York’s diverse community. In July 2014, an African-American named Eric Garner was killed when a white police officer used a banned chokehold maneuver while attempting to arrest him outside a storefront in Staten Island.

His death, coupled with the video recording of his arrest, sparked public outcry, with many claiming that police  used unnecessary force. By the time the incident ended, four officers were involved in subduing and arresting Garner–one of whom was a black police sergeant.

NYC  Study Finds Decline in Misdemeanor Arrests Following Changes in Policing Strategy
"A survey tracking enforcement rates in New York City found a significant decline in misdemeanor arrests and summonses in what authors suggested was a result of significant changes in NYPD policing strategy, such as a reduction in the use of stop-and-frisk tactics by officers. According to the study, prepared by Prof. Preeti Chaudhan of John Jay College and five other authors, there were 'approximately 800,000 fewer enforcement activities' between 2011 and 2014.

The study by the Misdemeanor Justice Project at John Jay College of Criminal Justice showed that the level of arrests of African-Americans in particular had significantly dropped during that time period. NYPD Commissioner William J. Bratton’s strategy of allowing 'police resources to be redeployed to better use' as part of his so-called 'Peace Dividend' from the plummeting crime rates in New York. was a direct  inspiration for the new strategy, which gives police greater discretion in exercising authority, and reduce(s) the number of negative interactions with the public, said the study, entitled 'Tracking Enforcement Rates in New York City, 2003-2014.'"

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As Shootings Rise in New York, Police Focus on a Small Number of Young Men http://t.co/j99VyYgrVq

— The NCJA (@thencja) July 21, 2015

Hateful Film

There is absolutely no excuse for the New York Police Department’s decision to show a hate-filled film about Muslims to more than 1,400 city police officers.

Relations between police and the diverse Muslim community are already tense after The Associated Press uncovered aggressive surveillance of Muslims, including American citizens. The propaganda of this film will only damage those relations further and make law enforcement more difficult.

The film shows some of the grisliest jihadist terrorists attacks in recent years and argues that the real agenda for Islamists in America is to infiltrate and dominate the country. The department said at first that it was shown to only a handful of officers, but that proved to be false when the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University obtained police records through the courts after a nine-month struggle. Police documents show some confusion over where the film, “The Third Jihad,” came from — possibly a contractor — and how it kept running for three months to a year in a conference area.

Read on...

Police Tactic: Keeping Crime Reports Off the Books

Jill Korber walked into a drab police station in Queens in July to report that a passing bicyclist had groped her two days in a row. She left in tears, frustrated, she said, by the response of the first officer she encountered.

“He told me it would be a waste of time, because I didn’t know who the guy was or where he worked or anything,” said Ms. Korber, 34, a schoolteacher. “His words to me were, ‘These things happen.’ He said those words.”

Crime victims in New York sometimes struggle to persuade the police to write down what happened on an official report. The reasons are varied. Police officers are often busy, and few relish paperwork. But in interviews, more than half a dozen police officers, detectives and commanders also cited departmental pressure to keep crime statistics low.

While it is difficult to say how often crime complaints are not officially recorded, the Police Department is conscious of the potential problem, trying to ferret out unreported crimes through audits of emergency calls and of any resulting paperwork.

Read on...

New York Crime Statistics: What the Researchers Say

To the Editor:

Re “Crime by the Numbers,” by William Bratton (Op-Ed, Feb. 17):

Mr. Bratton refers to a survey conducted by us. After reading the article, which disparages our research, we feel it necessary to respond.

The New York City Police Department, which has led the nation in producing historical and very real reductions in crime, is in a cramped statistical box. When precincts are under pressure to continue to reduce crime, the message radiates down to all levels. Combating their own success, the police imaginatively redouble efforts to achieve further reductions. Compstat serves as a mechanism to ensure these reductions.

Our previous writings explored how the Police Department’s Compstat system for tracking crime contributed to the city’s sharp drop in crime.

We still believe that there has been a significant drop in crime and that the fundamentals of Compstat are sound. But like the retired police commanders we surveyed and numerous other scientific studies, we also see the underside of Compstat.

Only long-neglected departmental transparency will assuage the department’s current condition. The Citizens Crime Commission’s recommendations for sharing data and internal audits are an important first step.

We have great respect for the past and present leadership of the N.Y.P.D. Our findings warrant the same respect.

Eli B. Silverman
John A. Eterno
Rockville Centre, N.Y., Feb. 22, 2010

Mr. Silverman is professor emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the author of “N.Y.P.D. Battles Crime: Innovative Strategies in Policing.” Mr. Eterno, a retired N.Y.P.D. captain, is associate dean and director of graduate studies at Molloy College.

This letter to the New York Times is in response to an earlier Crimbrary post Crime by the Numbers. Tom