Five Years Since Garner's Death, Has the NYPD Changed?

It has been five years since Eric Garner was killed on Staten Island after NYPD officers took him down using a prohibited chokehold. This week, Garner's family and their supporters were outraged by the Department of Justice's decision not to charge Officer Daniel Pantaleo for his role in Garner's death.

While Pantaleo still may be fired through an ongoing internal disciplinary case, many New Yorkers remain frustrated with the pace of reform within the NYPD and the continued racial disparities that exist in policing.

But NYPD leadership says that many of their tactics and protocols have changed for the better.

The department launched its neighborhood policing strategy in 2015, which, Commissioner James O'Neill says, is working to build relationships between officers and communities. The NYPD has also re-trained officers in the use of force and de-escalation techniques and has started to document when officers use force against civilians or each other. 

"Other changes include implicit bias training and the roll-out of body cameras," said WNYC's Yasmeen Khan to All Things Considered host Jami Floyd. "As of earlier this year, all officers on patrol now have body-worn cameras. And with some exceptions, that footage is part of the public record so people can request access to it."

Khan says there are still laws and protocols in place that lead to distrust between the public and the NYPD. Police personnel records are shielded through a state law known as 50-a, which critics say makes tracking police discipline and accountability difficult.

"So in some ways, there are positive changes happening," said Khan. "But those changes aren't going to replace the need for consequences for officers that mistreat people in the community, or the need for transparency in how the NYPD deals with it."