NYPD Commissioner Bratton admits cops have contributed to the 'worst parts of black history'

NYPD
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

During an event for Black History Month on Tuesday, New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told an audience that although police officers protect civil rights, cops have also contributed to civil rights issues.

"Many of the worst parts of black history would have been impossible without police, too," Bratton said at a breakfast at the Greater Allen AME Church in Queens. "Slavery, our country’s original sin, sat on a foundation codified by laws enforced by police, by slave-catchers."

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Bratton said Tuesday that police are working to provide the NYPD with better training, and that police need the support of their local communities. "We cannot change the past, but working together we can change the future," he said.

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Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.