Bratton and de Blasio look to change the ‘language’ of policing

Stephon Johnson

According to New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, officers will be retrained on how to talk to the public.

During a recent news conference with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a Harlem police precinct, Bratton referred to the retraining process as “verbal judo.”

“Cops in this city and indeed around the country get into more trouble with their mouths than they do with any of the tools they use,” said Bratton during the news conference. “We injure very few people in the course of making an arrest and interacting with them, but we do tend to injure a lot more people through our language, and so, the idea is to formulate new language for all of our officers that might help to diffuse a situation rather than escalate it.”

The new protocol would involve seven steps. The mayor explained each one during the news conference.

http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/mar/06/bratton-and-de-blasio-look-change-language-policin/