Up Close: New NYPD policy on reporting use of force
NEW YORK (WABC) -- Amid concerns about excessive force, the New York Police Department unveiled a new program on Thursday to document physical encounters officers have with the public and to discourage using force in the first place.
Any time a cop uses force, he or she must report it. It's all part of a balancing act by Police Commissioner William Bratton, as he pushes to keep crime rates low while addressing community concerns, under the watchful eye of an inspector general.
Joining us are Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, himself a former New York cop, who have released a joint report with recommendations on how to improve police-community relations.
It includes more training, and programs designed to ease tensions with the community, like paid sabbaticals for officers, a kind of stress relief effort from what is an increasingly stressful job.
Also this week, we all remember three years ago, long lines at gas stations after Superstorm Sandy.
The big issue was not only getting gasoline to the stations, but also the stations had no way of pumping the gas out because they didn't have emergency generators.
Hurricane Joaquin veered off in the Atlantic away from land, but we wanted to take a closer look at how prepared gas stations are in case of power outages caused by storms.
With us is Robert Sinclair, manager of media relations for AAA New York.
And, for a look at the week in politics and the presidential race, political analyst Jeanne Zaino, a professor at Iona College who also teaches at NYU, and political consultant, usually to Democratic candidates, Hank Scheinkopf.
