PATERSON — As part of the state takeover of the Police Department, city cops went through training on patrol techniques this week “with a focus on constitutional policing with compassion,” officials said.

The patrol sessions also included classroom sessions about constitutional law on unreasonable searches and seizures, according to Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s first public update on his office’s March 27 takeover of the Police Department.

Platkin also disclosed a plan to increase the number of Paterson cops equipped with conducted energy devices, or Tasers, “to provide another less-lethal force option when de-escalation techniques prove unsuccessful.”

Before the state intervention, the only Paterson officers with Tasers were members of the Emergency Response Team, the group that includes the cops involved in the fatal police shooting of Najee Seabrooks, the incident that seemed to trigger the state’s actions.

Platkin’s office has not revealed how many more Paterson officers would get Tasers or which police units would be equipped with the devices.

Activists have asserted that the SWAT team that engaged in the hours-long bathroom standoff with Seabrooks should have fired Tasers when he charged toward them with a knife. City police sources have said the emergency responders could not use the electric devices because he had doused himself in alcohol and was standing in water from broken pipes.

Other changes announced by the Attorney General’s Office included:

• Plans to create a policy on “deconfliction,” or situations when police are operating near each other, such as during a raid.

• Additional technology for Paterson police. But the state did not provide details on what that technology would be.

• An updated website and social media for the Police Department, including a community engagement portal for people’s concerns and feedback.

Platkin’s announcement said his intervention team has begun reviewing, evaluating and analyzing the Paterson department’s “procedures, policies, equipment, staffing, and the overall operations.”

“This diagnostic process is labor intensive and will be of an ongoing nature over the upcoming weeks and months,” Platkin’s update said.

Paterson Press asked Mayor Andre Sayegh for his reaction to the update. His office issued a statement referring to a meeting between the mayor and New Jersey State Police Maj. Frederick Fife, whom Platkin put in charge of the Police Department on an interim basis until New York Police Department Chief Isa Abbassi takes over in May.

“I was encouraged by my meeting with Major Fife and his reassurance that our police department will receive much-needed resources,” said the mayor’s statement. “Public safety is a partnership, and I look forward to continuing to work with our partners to implement meaningful improvements.”

More: Paterson City Council weighs these two ‘no confidence’ resolutions

Local activists, meanwhile, were not impressed by Platkin’s update. Black Lives Matter leader Zellie Thomas said the attorney general's actions so far do little to “restore faith in law enforcement.”

“Police accountability doesn’t begin and end with the actions of an individual officer,” Thomas said, “but addressing the ways in which culture and systems protect and serve officers instead of protecting and serving the community.”

Thomas said there should be public acknowledgement of the misconduct and abuse in the department. “This is off to a bad start,” proclaimed the activist.

Leaders in the Paterson Police Department and its police unions could not be reached for comment for this story.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New Jersey attorney general starts retraining Paterson police force