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Police conduct foot patrols in crime 'hotspots' to bridge community divisions

Posted at 2:32 PM, Sep 25, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-25 14:32:30-04

NEWBURGH, N.Y. (AP) -- New York is funding foot patrols in crime hotspots around the state with an emphasis on "procedural justice," where interactions are respectful and meant to be perceived as fair.

It's part of an effort to cross a national divide between poor urban communities and law officers suspected of picking unfairly on minorities.

The $13 million in grants this year are going to 20 police departments in 17 counties accounting for 85 percent of the violent crime outside New York City.

In Newburgh, a city of 28,000 along the lower Hudson River with 55 shootings last year, officers walk streets with every third row house boarded up and stand outside bodegas.

They chat with residents and passers-by who want them there and get hard stares from young men who don't.