THE BACKGROUND
When Police Commissioner William Bratton came
to New York City, he saw a problem from which cities
nationwide have been suffering: a severe breakdown
in relations between police officers and economically
disadvantaged communities. His plan to deal with this
took shape with the creation of Neighborhood Coordination Officers (NCOs), one of many initiatives by
Bratton to heal the city.
You haven’t heard of NCOs? Read on.
Chief of Department James O’Neill was the driving
force behind the implementation of the NCOs and the
Neighborhood Policing Program. Deputy Commissioner Susan Herman, a mediator, a lifelong victim
advocate, and author of a seminal book about victim
services, Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime, worked
with the Chief on the initiative.
But if Brad Heckman, Chief Executive Officer of the
New York Peace Institute, one of the largest mediation services in the United States, had not attended a
daytime presentation at a city agency where Herman
was speaking, and if he had not waited in line to meet
her, you probably wouldn’t be reading this. That meeting ultimately led to the creation and implementation
of an intensive four-day mediation training for police
officers to provide them with mediation skills that
they can use on the job. What follows is an overview
of the idea, plan and training, all based on an interview
with Brad Heckman.
THE IDEA AND THE PLAN
The idea, says Heckman, was to go back to the way
that cops used to be. “They used to be neighborhood
fixtures; everyone knew their name, they knew peo-
ple in the community, they were there to help. The
classic ‘Officer Mike’ was not there to confront and
arrest, but to be a helpful part of the neighborhood.”
“Police and community relations have changed
drastically since then,” Heckman continues, “and for
the worse.”
Over a series of meetings the NCO plan was devel-
oped for putting a specialized group of cops in every
precinct: cops wearing the standard full uniform but
whose job performance would be measured not on how
many arrests they made but on how many meaningful
points of connection they made within the community,
and how many problems they solved. They would be
placed in small catchment areas, and 90% of their time
would be spent out in the neighborhoods.
Regular officers spend very little of their time engaging with the community outside of crisis situations. The
majority of their time is spent answering 911 calls, and
the rest on patrol or filling out paperwork. There is little
or no time to build relationships and engage in problem-solving. In addition, the police culture is very different
from community cultures. Heckman and Herman knew
it would take time to bring a new mindset into the NYPD,
one that would make them more involved with the community rather than being seen as authoritarian outsiders.
The first step, though, was where to begin. Herman
thought it could be basic conflict resolution: Heck-
man agreed and said, “Let’s really bake mediation
into their roles.”
Enter the New York Peace Institute and the four-day
intensive training.
THE SETTING
“What we were hearing from the officers is how
much time they spend responding to things where
they really don’t know what do,” says Heckman,
“things like noise complaints, for instance, where you
can’t really tell someone to turn it down because it’s
not a violation of code.” So the officer would warn the
parties, but still have to return again and again to the
same complaints.
But now these officers are finding that many of the
cases are exactly the kinds of things that can be mediated. “Our goal,” says Heckman, “is to keep going until
we have every precinct trained in mediation skills so
that they’re acting as peace builders.”
BRAD
HECKMAN
is CEO of New
York Peace
Institute, one
of the nation›s
largest mediation
services, and an
adjunct professor
at New York
University. He has
trained labor
unions, the
NYPD, NASA,
United Nations
programs, and
community
organizations
worldwide.
by
Lynne Kinnucan
Police officers "used to be neighborhood
fixtures; everyone knew their name,
they knew people in the community,
they were there to help."
Back to the Future: The NCOs of the NYPD
An Interview with Brad Heckman
About the Author
LYNNE
KINNUCAN
is a former staff
member of ACR,
and co-founder,
with Dr. Mitchell
Hammer, of ACR's
Crisis Negotiation
Section. She is
currently co-chair
of the section.
