NYPD eyes sobriety tests after shooting

Police officers involved in shootings would face mandatory sobriety tests under new policies prompted by the killing last year of an unarmed man on his wedding day.

Starting in September, the New York Police Department will administer Breathalyzer tests like those used in drunken-driving stops on any on- or off-duty officers who kill or wound someone, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Monday.

The breath tests were one of 19 recommendations made by police officials assigned to study the NYPD’s undercover operations amid community outrage over the killing of Sean Bell. Other steps include more stringent psychological screenings for undercover candidates, improving scenario-based training with the help of professional actors, and installing lights and sirens in unmarked cars.

The measures are expected to make “undercover operations the safest possible for the police and public alike,” Kelly said.

He said at least one other police department, in Milwaukee, issues the breath tests to officers involved in certain shootings.

Alcohol became an issue in Bell’s slaying after officials revealed that undercover Detective Gescard Isnora _ one of four officers who fired a total of 50 rounds at Bell’s car _ had been authorized to have two drinks while trying to blend in with patrons at a Queens topless bar where police were investigating reports of prostitution.

Police have insisted there was no evidence that alcohol played a role in Isnora’s decision to open fire. A commander who spoke to him immediately after the shooting judged him “fit for duty.”

Since then, an advisory panel has concluded that mechanical breath tests are “the right thing to do,” Kelly said, adding, “I think it’s feasible.”

The NYPD would use the test results to determine whether alcohol factored into a shooting and if the shooter should be disciplined.

The panel stopped short of banning drinking by undercovers. It instead recommended strict enforcement of the existing two-drink limit and training “on credible ways to avoid drinking altogether when pressured to do so by subjects.”

A spokesman for the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the police union, declined comment. There was no immediate response from the Detectives’ Endowment Association.

An attorney for Bell’s fiancee and his two wounded friends praised the new police department policy Monday.

“It is positive change. It is a first step in the right direction,” said the lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein.

He said New York’s Legislature should require the same alcohol testing statewide of all officers involved in shootings.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has counseled and spoken for the victims, said ensuring that the public knows whether police officers are “in complete control of their senses when making life and death decisions” is critical.

Sharpton’s National Action Network has been holding weekly rallies and other events to draw attention to the Bell shooting case.

Bell, 23, was killed and two of his friends were seriously wounded in November after his bachelor party at the topless bar.

The police shooters said they believed Bell and his friends were retrieving a gun from his car to settle a dispute, although no gun was found.

As one of the officers approached the car, it lurched forward and hit him, then twice rammed into an unmarked police minivan. The police then opened fire.

Bell was black, as are the injured men. Two of the officers are black and one is white.

In March, Isnora and another detective, Michael Oliver, were indicted on manslaughter charges. A third, Marc Cooper, was charged with a misdemeanor for a bullet that struck an elevated train station across the street from the bar.