New York City briefs

NYPD to train cops to be helpful, patient

The NYPD's encounters with the public will soon begin with a polite introduction and end "on a positive note" under a new seven-step curriculum announced Thursday by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton.

The new training will roll out soon at the Police Academy and in-service training, though no timetable was laid out.

"Cops get in more trouble with their mouths than they do with any of the tools we give them -- clubs, guns," Bratton said. "We injure very few people in this city making arrests . . . but we do tend to injure an awful lot of people through our language, and so the idea is to begin to formulate new language for all of our officers that might help to defuse a situation rather than escalate it."

The plan's other steps include actively listening, keeping an open mind, being patient, knowing about available agency resources and aiming to address a person's needs.

Hearing planned on man tied to bin Laden

A New York judge has set a hearing for Friday after a defense lawyer claimed the man prosecutors say was a relative of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida's spokesman after Sept. 11 might be the wrong man.

Judge Lewis Kaplan scheduled a hearing after claims were made Wednesday on behalf of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith.

Attorney Zoe Dolan wrote that the defense recently learned there may be a second person with a similar name as Abu Ghaith who is now at Guantánamo Bay. Dolan said the government was thought to have information about the other individual.

A trial is scheduled to begin Monday for Abu Ghaith.

Prosecutors did not immediately return a message for comment. -- AP