One day after a New York grand jury declined to indict an NYPD officer in the death of Eric Garner, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the start of a significant overhaul and retraining of the nation’s largest police force, he announced on Thursday. 

From New York Times:

Mr. de Blasio said the grand jury’s decision had focused the public’s attention on the relationship between the police and the public.

“Fundamental questions are being asked, and rightfully so,” he said. “The way we go about policing has to change.”

The de Blasio administration did not immediately explain in detail what the training would entail and how the city would cover the considerable costs of such an undertaking.

Addressing the reaction on Wednesday to the grand jury’s decision, Mr. de Blasio said he understood the frustration of so many and he called on people to channel that anger into working for change.

“People need to know that black lives and brown lives matter as much as white lives,” he said.

Read more at New York Times

The retraining would require some 22,000 officers to complete a three-day course. The program, set to start this month, is based on the required firearms retraining that all officers must periodically undergo.

Police commissioner William J. Bratton first announced the retraining effort in the wake of Mr. Garner’s death.

The U.S. Department of Justice said that it will proceed with a civil rights investigation into Garner’s death.

Black lives matter.

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