In Paterson on Monday, 15 new recruits were sworn into the city’s police force, bringing the department closer to the 439 officers it says are needed for internal reorganization. This comes more than two months after the state attorney general seized control of the embattled department after the police killing of Paterson resident Najee Seabrooks.
“I think the Paterson Police Department is in a really good place right now. We’re engaging the community in a number of different ways,” said Isa Abbassi, Officer-in-Charge of the department. “The officers are out there in ways that they haven’t been before. We’re using creative deployment strategies and community engagement efforts and things have been going really well…”
Abbassi said the new recruits will be given “a holistic training program. “Part of that is community roundtable discussions, sitting down with members of the community, members of clergy to understand the needs that Paterson has for its police department. In addition, you’ll be seeing our new officers on foot, something that hasn’t been done in quite some time. But it’s going to help them relate to the community that they serve and also address quality of life issues, which I have personally heard is an important thing for the police department to address…”
