Chicago Top Cop To Import Rookie Training Program From NYPD

By Stephen Gossett in News on Dec 22, 2016 7:59PM

After recently visiting the NYPD, Superintendent Eddie Johnson is adapting one of that city’s rookie-cop training methods for use here in Chicago, the top cop said on Wednesday.

In hopes of bettering the fractious relationship between police and the public they patrol, the Chicago Police Department will unveil next month a pilot program that aims to have rookie officers meet people in their district prior to beginning their official assignment. The novice patrolmen will spend time visiting the area with “community members” “for a week or so,” Johnson said.

“I liked what I saw in New York,” he added, quoted in the Sun-Times, referring to NYC’s similar program.

The announcement comes as Chicago is poised to wrap up the year with more than 750 homicides. Violent crime in 2016 has been so rampant in Chicago that, according to one recent study, it’s skewing the entire national average. At the same time, the department has faced criticism this year for assigning some of its least experienced officers to the city’s most violent crime-prone districts. Fledgling officers are more likely to use deadly force compared to veteran officers, a BuzzFeed study determined last year.

The pilot program is just the latest in a series of recent measures designed to improve police-community relations and decrease violent crime in the city, including an announced recommitment to community policing, the adding of 1000 additional police officers and a revamped use of force policy.