NYPD Phases Out Programs that Pair Rookie Officers to Fight Crime
(DNAINFO) Murray Weiss | February 12, 2016 — New officers are paired instead with seasoned vets to learn their jobs before working dangerous posts.
The NYPD is phasing out programs that pair rookie officers together to eliminate the possibility that two inexperienced officers could wind up on a vertical patrol as Officer Peter Liang did when he shot and killed Akai Gurley.
Liang was convicted Thursday of manslaughter for fatally shooting the unarmed Gurley during a vertical patrol with another rookie officer in a stairwell of the Pink Houses. Liang testified he had his gun drawn because he was fearful of the darkened stairwell and accidentally fired his weapon when he “heard something.”