Sabbaticals, More Training Suggested to Improve Police, Community Relations
(DNAINFO) Jeff Mays — Police officers should have sabbaticals and be given incentives to live in the city while the length of police academy training should be increased from six months to a year, according to a report from civil rights attorneyNorman Siegel and the Manhattan and Brooklyn borough presidents on how to improve relations between police and members of the community.
The report, composed after meeting with more than 900 city residents in Manhattan and Brooklyn, also questioned whether stop-and-frisk was being done properly despite a declining number of stops, called for appointing a permanent prosecutor to examine alleged police misconduct and using independent evidence gatherers in cases where police kill or severely injure civilians.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said the idea for the report came in the wake of the death of Staten Island man Eric Garner after being placed in a chokehold by police and the protests that followed.