Bratton: More Diversity in Police Departments Will Help Bridge the Racial Divide

EXCERPT:

BRATTON: "It’s a time of great pressure there’s always pressure on American police officers. It’s been going through profound changes in the last 20 year and constant improvement in training and use of force and continuing efforts in recent years to teach our officers deescalation techniques and trying to see the community and have the community see them. Policing is a shared responsibility. It’s all about dialog and understanding each other and seeing each other and hearing each other. Rtbtjt from the community. We don’t bring them in from Mars. They come from the communities they police and over the years with more diversity there’s increasing numbers of African American and Latino officers and that’s a good thing because the community want to see that and that’s part of the way we bridge the divide. A divide that’s been closing and a divide we hope over time especially in New York I can speak for our efforts the last several years to not only bridge the divide but close it. I’m optimistic in the issue."