Training Police Officers to Think
Tags: Police Brutality, George Floyd, Daniel Prude, Police Training, Police Reform

“What were they thinking?!” Across the United States of America, stereotypes and racism are plaguing police and sheriff’s departments. Constant news stories of unarmed black men being killed by police and police abusing their power have become the norm. It is sickening. I hope politicians and high-ranking officials in the criminal justice system take time to stop, listen, and think about ways to stop the mass injustice being put on the American people- and more specifically- people of color in America.

On March 23, 2020, a man named Daniel Prude was physically restrained by the police to the point of asphyxia while undergoing a mental breakdown after ingesting PCP. Daniel Prude was later taken off life support and died due to complications from asphyxia. Daniel Prude’s death was avoidable as no man needs to lay naked in the street that long and die at the hands of the police. The death of Daniel Prude caused mass hysteria as another unarmed black man was killed by police.

While much progress has been made, police brutality and the racial bias of law enforcement in the United States are as apparent in 2020 as it was in the 1960s. With social media and the rise of technology, instances of police misconduct are being recorded and reported constantly causing unrest as people feel betrayed by those who are supposed to protect and serve the people of the United States. Seeing the video of a naked man (Daniel Prude) lay in the streets and suffer at the hands of police in my city provided me with a purpose to make a change.

In Rochester, New York police recruits are required to go to the police academy and then move on to the Field Training Program where they will train for an additional 12 weeks. Police training is crucial if we hope to decrease the amount of unarmed black men being shot. However, once the Field Training Program is complete, there is little to no additional training. With only a couple of additional hours of training a year, it seems evident that the police officers are not properly prepared for every possible situation.

I know you are frustrated with the constant police brutality across the United States, but there is a possible solution in sight.

If police officers in the United States were required to train around a third of their time on the job, it would stand to reason those police officers would be more comfortable in combative situations and, potentially, lives could be saved.

Videos of unarmed black men like Daniel Prude or George Floyd being executed at the hands of police have been shared all over the internet and it is hard to find someone who has not seen the horrific video of either man being killed.

As videos continue to flow in of poor police work, it highlights the idea that police officers are undertrained. Watching multiple officers stand by while George Floyd was brutally asphyxiated made many people that saw the video stare in disbelief. The very people we pay to protect and serve watched one of their cause another man to urinate uncontrollably because he was being asphyxiated so brutally.

The goal of increasing police training is to make it so officers do not stand by while one of their own kills an unarmed black man and instead they intervene and save a man’s life. With increased training, decision-making speed increases, and the problem-solving skills of police officers surely would increase over time as well.

It goes without saying that it takes a morally superior human to properly work as a police officer. A police officer should be someone who is looking to protect the people around him and serve those who need it most. While it remains a minority of police officers that are truly abusive with their power, one is too many. The United States should look into requiring police officers to go through some sort of post-secondary education to help culture the officers they hire in an attempt to recruit more intelligent, empathetic, and hardworking police officers. As it stands currently, it takes more training to become a hairdresser than it does a police officer.

A football team practices around 3–5 times before a game every week along with weeks of practice before their very first game. I believe the same approach should be taken when looking at police training. Police officers receive fairly extensive training before they are left to patrol, however, very little additional training is received after the police academy and the Field Training Program. If police officers received routine training throughout their career, I believe it goes without saying those police officers would be better prepared to handle uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations.

I firmly believe that our police officers in the United States are undertrained and so should you, without serious change, we will continue to see innocent people die at the hands of those intended to protect and serve. I was originally on board with defunding the police out of sheer rage. However, I noticed that if we increased the budget for police training, then it is possible to reduce the number of deaths and injustices caused by police in the United States.

In 2019, over 1,000 people were killed by police and under 50 police officers were killed. The goal is to decrease both numbers in an effort to make the United States a safer place to live. Increasing the amount of time our officers’ train is crucial, however, how they train is just as important. Officers should be learning skills like problem-solving, communication, and dealing with emotions. According to available statistical data, more officers kill themselves than are killed every year on duty. Officers need to learn how to manage and understand emotions in themselves and others in order to save lives.

Hopefully, you have taken the time to open your mind to different ways in which we can look to improve our criminal justice system and teach police officers to think before they do.

Visit https://www.trainingreform.org to donate and learn more about criminal justice reform.