MEDIATION ON THE BEAT: Embedding Mediation Skills in the NYPD

Monthly

NYC-DR Roundtable Breakfast

MEDIATION ON THE BEAT:

Embedding Mediation Skills 

in the NYPD

In this presentation, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Susan Herman will talk about the Department’s Neighborhood-Based Policing initiative, in which police officers citywide are working to build constructive, problem-solving relationships with the communities they serve. Crucial to this initiative is officers' use of mediation skills. Brad Heckman, CEO of New York Peace Institute, will discuss his experience training more than 300 NYPD officers in mediation skills under this initiative.

Susan H Herman

NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Collaborative Policing

Returning to the New York City Police Department in January, 2014, Susan Herman was named Deputy Commissioner, Collaborative Policing.  Deputy Commissioner Herman’s role is to foster shared responsibility for public safety through productive partnerships with individuals, government agencies, and community-based organizations.  The Office of Collaborative Policing supports the New York City Police Department’s efforts to prevent and control crime and nurture constructive relationships with communities.  The Office has a special focus on developing non-enforcement options for police officers, focused enforcement strategies, and improving access to police services. A member of the NYPD from 1985 to 1990, DC Herman served as the Special Counsel to the Police Commissioner to three consecutive Police Commissioners: Benjamin Ward, Richard Condon and Lee P. Brown. Prior to her return, DC Herman was an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Pace University.  She also served as the Executive Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, Director of Community Services at The Enterprise Foundation, Director of the Domestic Violence Division at Victim Services (now Safe Horizon), Director of Mediation Services at the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, and an instructor at NYUSchool of Law and NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. A recipient of the United States Attorney General’s National Crime Victim Service Award, DC Herman is known for her new vision of justice set forth in her book Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime.  DC Herman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Bryn Mawr College and a Juris Doctorate from the Antioch School of Law.

Brad Heckman

CEO New York Peace Institute

Brad Heckman is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of New York Peace Institute, one of the largest community mediation services globally. He is also an Adjunct Professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, where he received the Excellence in Teaching Award.  He serves on the boards of the National Association for Community Mediation, the New York State Dispute Resolution Association, and was a founding Trustee of the New York City Peace Museum. Brad has trained labor unions, the NYPD, NASA, community organizations, United Nations programs, emerging women leaders in the Persian Gulf, and corporations in more than twenty countries. His trainings are known for their incorporation of his own illustrations, pop culture, humor and theater, as can be seen in his TEDx Talk, Mindfully Getting in the Middle.

Brad’s interest in promoting peaceful dialogue began while he was teaching at a University in Poland in 1989, witnessing the transition from Soviet rule to democracy through round-table negotiations. Brad was previously a Vice President of Safe Horizon, a leading victims services and violence prevention agency, where he oversaw their Mediation, Families of Homicide Victims, Legal Services, Anti-Trafficking, Batterers Intervention, and Anti-Stalking Programs. He also served as International Director of Partners for Democratic Change, where he helped develop the first mediation centers in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union and Latin America. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, TimeOut New York, NASH Radio, Telemundo, Univision and other media outlets.

Brad received a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Dickinson College.