The New York City Police Department is disbanding the anti-crime units: plainclothes teams that are tasked at seeking out violent crimes, The New York Times reports.
That unit is notable for newsworthy police shootings and has over 600 officers in the unit throughout 77 precincts. Those officers will be reassigned into the detective bureau and neighborhood policing efforts, commissioner Dermot F. Shea revealed.
While the unit is being disbanded, there will be an effort in retaining some plainclothes officers.
“It will be felt immediately among the five district attorney’s offices. It will be felt immediately in the communities we protect,” Shea said to CNN.
“What we always struggle with, I believe, as police executives, is not keeping crime down, it’s keeping crime down and keeping the community with us and I think those two things, at times, have been at odds,” Shea added. “It’s time to move forward and change how we police in this city. We can do it with brains we can do it with guile. We can move away from brute force.”
