By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Roughly 260 NYPD recruits began a four-day "multicultural immersion training" program on Monday at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
The "ACT Together for a United New York" workshop was created in June 2007 in the wake of the Sean Bell shooting.
"This workshop is aimed at helping new police recruits understand and appreciate the diverse communities they will serve as officers on patrol," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement.
Officers will cover issues around ethnic and religious communities, sexual orientations and youth culture, police said.
Panelists at the Apollo on the opening day of the program included Errol Louis of the Daily News, Gerson Borrero of El Diario, Margarita Lopez of the New York Housing Authority, Rev. Herbert Daughtry, National Presiding Minister of the The House of the Lord Churches, and Bishop Lester Williams, Senior Pastor of the Community Church of Christ.
Among the complaints the panelists discussed were the controversial "stop and frisks," according to the New York Post.
The recruits will graduate at the Beacon Theater Dec. 28.
