The New York Police Department has hired a University of Chicago researcher to investigate whether racial bias influences whether a cop fires a weapon or not – and if so, ways to combat the tendency through training, reports the New York Daily News. The nonprofit Police Foundation will pay for psychology Prof. Josha Correll’s review.
Correll’s contract is the latest step taken by Police Commissioner Raymone Kelly in the weeks since a fatal police shooting in East Harlem. Many black officers and legislators argued that racial bias played a role when a white officer, Andrew Dunton, mistakenly shot and killed an off-duty black cop, Omar Edwards, who was chasing a suspect with his gun out. Some rank-and-file cops contend the only thing Dunton saw was Edwards’ weapon pointed at him.