Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas wants to help make sure his officers treat people, “in the most fair and impartial way possible.”
As part of the effort to build public trust, the police department oversaw a day-and-half training course last Friday and Saturday with more than 30 community leaders representing several of Kent’s ethnic, religious and social economic minorities. Those leaders participated with police command staff, City Council members and Mayor Suzette Cooke at the Kent Police/Fire Training Center on the East Hill.
“We have outstanding officers, who sincerely care for the members of our community and take pride in providing top-notched police services,” Thomas said in a police department media release. “I don’t believe that any Kent Police officer is maliciously biased in performing his or her duties. But what about the bias behavior that we aren’t aware of? This training compels us to take a look at that.
“I see this as an opportunity and a commitment by our department and our city to do an even better job of delivering police services in the most fair and impartial way possible. The fact that we are leading the way in our state is something to take note of.”
This state-of-the-art training is the first of its kind in the state and just the first phase of a multiphase plan to have every member of the Kent Police Department trained to better understand and relate to their community in a way that fosters strong partnerships and enhances community trust.
Lorie Fridell, former director of research at the nonprofit Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C., and a national expert on biased policing, led the training. The U.S. Department of Justice provided funding for the Fair and Impartial Policing (FIP) training, which was developed by Fridell.
The training focuses on the science of implicit bias (bias that we are not consciously aware of) that all humans have. The training also provides insight to both individuals and law enforcement agencies on how to identify and manage their implicit biases. A major premise of the course is that all humans have implicit biases and this isn’t something that applies only to police. Any organization that hires humans must train their employees on how to identify and manage their biases.
A key outcome of the training is an action plan that incorporates recommendations of the community members. The plan calls for:
• Completing FIP training to all staff
• Updating department biased based policing policy
• Applying FIP practices to recruiting, hiring and promoting of officers
• Integrate FIP strategies to leadership, supervision and accountability
• Incorporate FIP practices to the community through outreach and engagement events to further enhance community trust
To ensure the sustainability of this effort, the principles and practices of FIP will become part of a long-term strategic plan for the Kent Police.
The community and command fair and impartial policing training is phase one of a four-phase plan. Phase two will occur in May when the Kent Police will host a regional two-day Train the Trainer course. In addition to developing its own cadre of instructors, Kent Police will invite other law enforcement agencies in the region to send representatives to be trained to deliver this training to their departments.
Phase three includes the training of every employee of the Kent Police Department, which will commence in the fall. Phase four will be the ongoing training of newly hired employees and yearly refresher training for all staff.
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