Council Member Elizabeth Crowley visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance New York on Thursday, February 19th for the launch of the inaugural “Perspectives on Profiling” training program for 55 newly promoted NYPD sergeants and captains. This innovative training program for NYPD officers comes thanks to a $300,000 grant from the New York City Council to train 1,050 officers in Fiscal Year 2015.

“My first time in the Museum of Tolerance was an incredibly moving experience,” said Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, Chair of the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee. “The exhibits here get straight to the heart of the universal human experience, and contextualize prejudice and injustice in today’s modern world. Today’s inaugural training program is thanks to a grant we were able to secure in last year’s budget, and demonstrates a strong commitment by Speaker Mark-Viverito and the entire City Council to creating more productive interactions between New Yorkers and the law enforcement officials that protect them.”

“Given recent tension in the city it is really a honor to work with City Council and NYPD to provide essential training to the newly appointed sergeants and captains,” said Rabbi Steven Burg, Eastern Director Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s “Perspectives on Profiling “(POP) is a day-long interactive training program that uses cutting edge technology to provide law enforcement officers with tools to hone their ethical decision-making skills and strengthen security without jeopardizing individual and community trust and freedom. The program addresses definitions and legal issues; how to differentiate criminal profiling from racial profiling; and challenges police officers to examine areas of hidden bias personally and among their peers. Participants are immersed in experiential exhibits to explore concepts of stereotyping and prejudice and engage in intense discussion led by trained law enforcement facilitators. Using the customized POP interactive DVD, participants explore several car-stop scenarios and vote anonymously to select an action to simulate real-time outcomes to the situation.

(YWN Desk – NYC)