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Q&A
NYPD training for officers dealing with trafficking victims
1:32:27
ยท
150 sec
Council Member Rita Joseph inquires about NYPD training for officers dealing with trafficking victims. NYPD representatives outline their training approach:
- Trauma-informed training for all officers, especially those in special victims units
- Focus on improving first interactions with victims to encourage reporting
- Use of seasoned detectives for human trafficking cases
- Emphasis on creating a supportive environment for survivors during interviews
- Recognition of the importance of the first 5 minutes of interaction with a survivor
Rita Joseph
1:32:27
Sure.
1:32:27
Can I can can I thank you?
1:32:29
And that goes for NYPD as well.
1:32:31
What type of training do you offer to your police officers who are dealing with trafficking
Carlos Ortiz
1:32:37
victims?
1:32:39
Yeah.
1:32:39
So, every, person, especially with them, gets a it's a trauma informed training, because as you say, these crimes are probably the the highest underreported crimes there are, and a lot of it is because of that first interaction, be it with, police, be it with, with with anybody.
1:32:59
So we do within our refresher courses, within, whatever training, before any, any new investigator comes into special victims, they do get a a training before they even touch a case along with mentoring program, along with also with the human trafficking.
1:33:14
All of our human trafficking, detectives, all are seasoned detectives.
1:33:18
No no, brand new detectives.
1:33:20
These detectives have been on on on it for a while, and I've seen their their interactions and it it's incredible hearing that the having that that conversation and being able to to kinda speak to somebody to the point where the person is open.
1:33:32
And it's it is heart wrenching hearing that from from a youth saying that, she feels like she she's a victim when she shouldn't, because she's done nothing wrong.
1:33:43
And and I think, you know, hearing that kinda kinda kinda you gotta double the efforts when it comes to these trainings and getting it out to even when we do our roll call, conversations with the patrol officers because at the end of the day, the patrol officers are the first ones that are gonna interact with with these survivors is just giving them basic things.
1:33:59
I'll give you something that, Kathleen brought up to me, when she first got to to the unit, which is you think about it and say, wow.
1:34:06
You have a survivor sitting on a chair.
1:34:09
You have, an officer, 6 foot 2, standing over her.
1:34:12
He doesn't know any better.
1:34:12
He's just asking he's asking for information.
1:34:15
But how do you think that survivor feels at that moment?
1:34:18
She just experienced one of the worst experiences in her life, and there's a 6 foot 2 man standing over her.
1:34:25
So just simple things like that is what we try to get out to the patrol officers, but within our unit itself, within our training, we do bring in, we actually have survivors that do come into our training and speak to to to our detectives and and things like that because I think it's important for them to to realize, that that first 5 minutes is key of whether that survivor continues with us or whether that survivor says, why did I even call the cops?
Rita Joseph
1:34:50
Why did I bother?
1:34:51
And how often is that training done for officers in your
Carlos Ortiz
1:34:53
in your unit?
1:34:55
I'll I'll let Kathleen touch more.
1:34:56
She's training.