New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton told attendees at a City Council hearing on Monday that police officers will get annual training, beginning with a pilot program starting this year.

The program to begin in November will be in three precincts in North Brooklyn, eventually expanding to include 20,000 patrol officers and will include how to talk to the public, de-escalate tense situations and how to use force if necessary.

Bratton had promised a top-to-bottom review of police training procedures following the death of Eric Garner when police tried to arrest him on Staten Island on July 17.

"In January as part of our re-engineering process I ordered a review of the NYPD's tactical training and concluded that is is in need of significant enhancement. This is not because of any deficiency in our training staff or in most of our training programs. What have been lacking are the resources we devote to training and therefore the frequency which officers receive it. The verbal and physical tactics needed to assess and control a situation are perishable skills. We cannot reasonably expect police officers to maintain those skills on the basis of the training they receive as academy recruits, without regular refreshers that keep them current and sharp," said Bratton.

Bratton said they've designed a three-day course that will include how to talk to an initially uncooperative person with the goal of avoiding a physical confrontation and how to restrain a suspect without harm to the person or the officer.

The retraining program is estimated to cost the city $25-30 million, and would include the recruiting of 1,000 new personnel.

At present, officers only receive annual firearms training.

"A significant part of what we are trying to do is to address in this city, and maybe have this city serve as a national model where police and citizens work together in such a way that the historical issues of race and class are addressed. What I am looking to do when I look at my maps where crimes are occurring, where disorder is occurring, where calls are coming in for assistance for 911 or 311 I would eventually like to have those precincts in the Bronx and Brooklyn look like those precincts in Manhattan and other places where there are not those levels of calls for police service, " said Bratton.

The officers in the Eric Garner case have been reassigned. Staten Island District Attorney Don Donovan has called for a special grand jury to decide on indictments. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.