NYPD officers retrained on street stops policy
Jun 21, 2012, 12:06 AM
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) – A retooled training program aims to teach New York Police Department officers the right way to stop someone on the street.
A demonstration of the training on Wednesday came amid growing public criticism of the NYPD’s tactic of stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking people.
Each year hundreds of thousands of people are stopped. A judge allowing a federal class action lawsuit against the nation’s largest police department said earlier this year there was evidence of thousands of illegal stops.
Police have retooled training in response and meet monthly with clergy and community leaders.
More than 1,200 of the department’s 35,000 officers have received the training in the Bronx. More are scheduled.
Officers take turns acting as regular people being stopped to help train their colleagues. They’re also given seminars on courtesy and the laws governing street stops.
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