NYPD To Review Gun Use and Training

An interesting turn in the post-Sean Bell shooting NYPD: The NYPD has hired the RAND Corporation to examine NYPD weapons-use records and firearms training. The independent review will take 6 months and cost $500,000 (paid out of funds from the NYC Police Foundation). Police Commissioner Ray Kelly announced the study, but said that the review will "not directly investigate" the Bell shooting, though it will look at the phenomenon of "contagious shooting."

Reaction is mixed: While PBA welcomes the review, 100 Blacks in law Enforcement Who Care spokesman Marquez Claxton told the Sun, "It's too little, too late," noting that four of the Bell shooting officers had missed mandatory firearms training last year. And according to the Times, RAND has looked into LAPD training, racial profiling in Oakland, and police recruitment and retention issues in post-Katrina New Orleans.