Learn From Shooting

To the Editor:

I'm glad that State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has agreed to monitor the investigation into the shooting of Sean Bell. Hopefully, he will use his influence to eliminate or reduce the politics and public relations games that often contaminate cases like this one and the Diallo shooting.

While Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is taking a positive step in having the Rand Corporation review the NYPD's weapons training in the wake of the 50-shot Sean Bell debacle, it may be too little, too late. For one thing, Rand won't be looking at the Bell case. For another, one has to wonder why more study and work on police training weren't done after the Diallo shooting.

Spouting "good statistics" regarding police shootings is not the best way to convince the public that the NYPD is doing all it can to prevent recurrences of disasters like the Diallo and Bell shootings. How about focusing on how police officers are selected for plainclothes assignments, especially undercover work?

It's obvious that not all officers are qualified (by temperament, etc.) for these dangerous, high-pressure assignments. Maybe the Rand Corporation can take a hard look at the selection process for these assignments.

MICHAEL J. GORMAN

Editor's note: The writer is a retired NYPD Lieutenant and an attorney.