NYPD Recruits Get Lesson In Diversity, Community Relations
NEW YORK, NY [NY1] — Thousands of new police recruits attended a special multi-cultural training session in Harlem Thursday designed to help them navigate the city's ethnic mix. NY1's Lily Jamali filed the following report.With graduation just two weeks away, more than 250 of New York's soon-to-be Finest headed to the Apollo Theater Thursday for training on cross-cultural understanding."Just before they hit the streets, they have this immersion training as we call it," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.The NYPD is more diverse today than it has ever been. But then again, so is the city."We're gonna work with different people with different backgrounds. So it's important to understand, it's gonna be easier when you're prepared," said NYPD recruit Tatyana Ananyava.Recruits heard from representatives of various racial and ethnic groups, including NY1's Dominic Carter and the Reverend Al Sharpton.The NYPD added mandatory sessions to its diversity training after Sean Bell was shot and killed by plainclothes police officers in 2006. The latest round of diversity training comes just weeks after black off-duty police officer Omar Edwards was shot dead by a white officer. Edwards had his gun out as he chased a suspect in East Harlem."When we see these shootings of police to police, and they almost always end up with the black or Latino police shot, how do we deal with the fact that training seems to work in some cases but not others," said Sharpton. "There's a deep-seated problem that needs to be discussed at forums like this."Sharpton added that New Yorkers can't always blame police. He said people in his community are made to feel unsafe by its own members."In most of our communities there's a tremendous fear of the cops and the robbers and the robbers seems to be winning," said Sharpton.Many of the recruits said sessions like this are important, and pointed to their own experiences dealing with police."You get stopped. And the officers are a little less than courteous and that happens a lot in the neighborhoods. I'm gonna try to be a little more courteous and show more respect than what was shown to me at times," said NYPD recruit Alexander Bobo.The display of more respect is something officials at the NYPD seem to hope will go a long way.
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