NYPD to retrain officers, test body cameras following death of Eric Garner

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton held a news conference Thursday to discuss the retraining of NYPD officers in the aftermath of the death of Eric Garner.

Speaking from the Police Academy in Queens, de Blasio called for reform in New York City and the United States. "The relationship between police and community has to change," said de Blasio.

"People need to know that black lives and brown lives matter as much as white lives," de Blasio said, adding that everyone needs to know that they'll be treated the same regardless of who they are.

The firestorm that erupted over the grand jury's decision not to indict a police officer in Garner's death has cast a harsh spotlight on the NYPD, but the mayor says things are changing.

"The training that's going to happen here in this building is going to change the future of this city," he said.

"It is intended to remind officers of the importance and nobility of policing, what they do, and the importance of treating all people fairly no matter what their ethnicity or background," said Bratton.

Many believe the encounter between police and an unarmed Garner should have been handled more calmly and judiciously. And giving officers more tools, options other than force, is what the training is aimed at.

For officers in the past, "their only weapon was restraint, and now we're teaching them how to break that line in the sand when someone doesn't want to cooperate," said Commissioner Michael Julian.

"We want to help them in a way that enhances safety, produces fairness in the way they interact with the community so that we leave people with their dignity, and most importantly that we begin to build the trust that's necessary," said First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker.

To that end de Blasio said that a whole new generation of officers will be trained with a new approach including de-escalation and using less force when possible. "If we're serious about change, we understand it can only be achieved with the people we serve."

The NYPD gave the first glimpse into the three day retraining process that every officer will undergo. which includes "significant new procedures and protocols."

"We are going to make a series of changes so we don't have to have tragedies like this anymore," the mayor said. "We are all feeling this, there is a lot of pain that we are all feeling right now. We, in this city, are going to do something. We are changing because the people are demanding change. We lost a good main in Eric Garner who should not have been lost."

Part of the retraining includes police body cameras, which the NYPD will begin testing on Friday.

Cameras will be used by 60 officers in the five precincts and one public housing project with the highest rate of stop-and-frisk incidents.

One of the devices is worn on the front of an officer's shirt, while the other can be mounted on the officer's ear, glasses, collar or shoulder.

The NYPD should have the full trial program in operation by the weekend.

The cameras will be in operation in both the Staten Island precinct where Eric Garner died and the Brooklyn precinct that patrols the public housing where Akai Gurley was fatally shot.

The NYPD will become the largest police force in the nation to use the technology.

The cameras will be used in Staten Island's 120th Precinct, the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn's East New York, the 40th Precinct in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, the 23rd Precinct in East Harlem and the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, Queens.

Also selected was PSA 2 in Brooklyn.