Armed NYPD recruits will hit the streets months before graduating from the Police Academy, under a new training strategy that the brass say will better prepare them for the dangerous job.
“This is the new model for the academy class in order to give them some field orientation,” NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis told The Post. “It’s field-based training. Certainly, some things are better taught in the classroom, but certain things are better taught in real-life settings.”
The 1,200 recruits — who began training in July and will graduate in December — will be split into groups of 400, with each spending a week at a precinct house, a week in a patrol car and a third week walking a beat over a nine-week period starting in October.
They will be under the direct supervision of the department’s 734 field-training officers and will return to the classroom to analyze their experiences with instructors.
While the strategy is a key part of Commissioner Bill Bratton’s re-emphasis on community policing, not everyone is on board, with some law-enforcement sources saying the policy is a gamble that could have disastrous, even deadly, consequences
“These kids are getting no real tactical training, no real legal training, and they’re being rushed up to the shooting range to qualify,” one police source said. “This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
A second source agreed the NYPD is rolling the dice by sending out cadets.
“Say there’s a guy drinking a beer in public, and the cop pulls out a gun. It could incite the crowd and start a mini-riot,” the source said.
Davis stressed the probies won’t be on their own.
“They are always going to be teamed up with other officers,” he said.
Additional reporting by Jamie Schram