Relationships within their communities. Me in offering special recognition and thanks andodays sponsors, target Thomson Reuters, two Companies Whose core values clearly reflect their desire to connect Law Enforcement with communities by helping the national Law Enforcement museum to set the table for meaningful and impactful conversations. Now, for some brief housekeeping ours before i introduce keynote spend speakers. All attendees are muted. If you like to ask a question, please submit your question through the q a tab. Note that everyone in the webinar will see your question. , please cement your question through the q a tab. Note that everyone in the webinar will see your question. You can upvote questions submitte you can upvote questions submitted by other attendees and we will prioritize answering questions that received the most votes. A link to this webinar would be sent to everyone within two days, and will also be available on that museums youtube channel. Panelists, please room ever to keep yourselves on mute when you are not speaking. I would like to introduce our keynote speaker. Sharon belton, the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and alliances of Thomson Reuters government. She oversees development and management of private sector partnerships and government, legal and Law Enforcement trade associations. Sharon served as mayor of minneapolis from 19942001. She is the first woman and first africanamerican to be elected mayor. During her time in office but achieved National Recognition as an expert on Public Private partnerships, and Public Safety. Neighborhood revitalization, and economic developing. She serves on the Minneapolis City Council for 10 years, from 1984 to 1994 and was Council President from 19901984. Sharon . Sharon thank you so much for inviting me to join todays panel on antibias police training. Im delighted to be here and share my perspectives on the subject before our esteemed panel of experts discusses their experience delivering Training Programs to Law Enforcement professionals. Prior to being elected to the Minneapolis City Council, and later as mayor, i worked for the Minnesota Department of corrections, first as a parole officer and later as the assistant director of the state program for victims of sexual assault. I spent much of my career there developing and providing Training Programs for medical, legal, and Law Enforcement professionals to combat the bias against victims of rape and incest. Much of that bias was societal and widespread. We also developed major Public Awareness campaigns to stem the societal bias. While it has taken significant time to improve the treatment of victims of sexual assault, i think we can all attest to the fact that progress has been made. That progress requires and continues to require 1. Advocacy for change. 2. The the development of standardized procedures, and 3. Accountability. We as a state and a nation can improve and restore trust between our communities and the police. It must start with an acceptance that bias, including racial bias, has been embedded in our institutions. It is not just a problem in policing. The focus of todays public outrage is that the police bias can result in immediate lossoflife, by lethal means. And it requires our attention. I want to remind people that the opening paragraph of the 21st Century Policing report states that, the trust between Law Enforcement agencies and the people they protect and serve, is essential in a democracy. It is key to the civility of our communities, the integrity of our criminal justice system, and the safe and effective delivery of policing services. Now, that said, sadly, that trust, sadly continues to be eroded as more reports of harassment, unlawful detention, excessive use of force, and the deaths of africanamerican men and women, are more widely witnessed via social media in addition, post incident reports by officerworn body cameras, have provided another level of insight into the actions of some of our arresting officers. The most recent killing of george floyd in minneapolis, minnesota, shock to the city, the nation and people all over the globe. I believe even some of the most enthusiastic supporters of Law Enforcement raised their eyebrows after watching that video. Why . And how could something as egregious as this happen . Surely the officers involved in this call for Service Received training on how to deescalate a potentially volatile situation. And maybe even unconscious bias training to ensure the response to the suspect was appropriate to the situation, and not compromised by discriminatory beliefs or attitudes held by an arresting officer . All across our nation, citizens are demanding that elected officials either defund or dismantle the police as a response. There is a strong sentiment behind this demand for change and i believe that is because past attempts to change Police Culture and behavior, in the minds of our community, have failed, or fallen short of expectations. Today, leaders in Law Enforcement, joined by elected officials, legal scholars, advocates for rule of law, and justice equity, and citizens are demanding that more must be done. And the time is now. As a parole officer and an engaged citizen, and a former mayor, i want to go on the record intact wholeheartedly agree. What did we expect . What did we really expect . Is it rational to think that four hours or eight hours of unconscious bias training, implicit bias and or procedural justice was going to, or would change the attitudes of individual officers, that may have been exposed to a lifetime of bias, and stereotyping, that is pervasive in our society . Is it logical to think that Training Programs with no processes to ensure officers are held accountable, to incorporate the training into the way they perform their duties, would result in fewer complaints . Do incident reports require officers provide relevant information about their encounters with citizens to equip our Supervisory Staff with the needed information they need to assess compliance with performance standards . Is it reasonable to believe that if there are no consequences for violations of standards of performance, that any officer would feel compelled to comply with the standards or report any violations of those standards, to the appropriate internal authorities . These are all important questions that citizens are asking. And leaders in Law Enforcement should, and must be able to, answer. Reviews of the adoption of new protocols for policing should be standardized operating procedures. Not just procedures associated with criminal or investigative administrative investigations. I believe active steps must be taken to prevent training from becoming just another check the box experience. I want to raise another question. Is it possible we can train our way out of the problem of biased policing, or the excessive use of force against black and brown people . I think all of us know there are officers in some of our Police Departments that have a record of bias in their performance. Is it possible that this vulnerability toward bias could have been detected before they were hired . Or at the very least, identified early in their careers, so it could have been addressed . That said, maybe the best way to address the problem of biased policing is to improve our recruitment processes. Social science indicates there is evidence that societal and environmental exposures can have an effect on how individuals react to stress. Given that Law Enforcement officers are recruited from a variety of different backgrounds, and in some instances, exposed daily to the stresses of communities, that they are assigned to serve, it is critical for us to understand how these differential Life Experiences create risks or distressed vulnerabilities. I have raised probably more questions than the panel might be able to answer. But i hope that they can provide some food for thought. I am here today to listen and to learn. And my personal goal is to take back to my colleagues and my community, new information that will help us reimagine, and build, a model for policing, that is fair and just, for everyone. Thank you so much, for listening to my remarks. I look forward to listening to the panel discussion. Thank you, sharon. Really appreciate it. And i appreciate all of your support and your attendance in many of our events, when we were open, when the museum was open, as well as you being here today, so thank you. I would like to introduce dr. Booker hodges. Dr. Hodges is currently assistant commissioner of Law Enforcement for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. \dr. Hodges has been a diversity instructor for 18 years. His extensive career includes School Resource officer, a deputy, narcotics detective, swat operator, patrol overnight watch commander, inspector, undersheriff, the acting chief deputy, and the chief of police. An naacp leader, dr. Hodges is the only active Police Officer in history, and the history of the naacp, to serve as a branch president. In addition, booker serves as the chapter president for the National Organization of black Law Enforcement executives. Booker, i would like to turn it over to you. Thank you for joining us today. Can you hear me . Yes. Dr. Hodges i want to thank everyone for coming out today to the national Law Enforcement memorial and museum for hosting this important topic and im glad to be here. The issue of bias if you think about it in terms of modern history and how it is gotten thrust into the forefront. Around 2000, we were starting to have this discussion on racial profiling. And 9 11 happened. And we had to take that discussion and put on the back burner. And anything for those of you who can cook, im asking you put on the back burner of the stove, eventually it is going to boil over so every few years this pot keeps boiling over and my hope is that with panels like this we can move forward and take the pot off the back of the stove and move forward in society. With that, we have a great panel here for you today. I am grateful they grace me with their presence. We have phenomenal people here today and i think youre going to get a lot out of what they have to say. The panelists are going to introduce themselves and how they answer their questions because we know our time is limited and we want to really give you something to walk away with here. My first question for our panelists is, as we are talking about bias can someone answer specifically what is antibias training . This is duane crocker. Hello, booker. This is duane crawford, the director for the National National black lawon of enforcement executives and are National President linda williams. To me, how we are able to train our law and personnel and anyone in the organization how to understand the biases you may have. Or stereotypes you may have about certain people and how that may also influence how youre able to protect and serve a person, a community, or an organization, based on biases you may have based on their race or where they live. Anyone else . I would add that at its best antibias training is a longterm thing. It is not a oneday workshop or a checkmark, it is something that includes skills, that includes longevity with a plan attached to it. When we talk about, once we identify the biases, the hard work is in identifying and not letting how people can control their thinking. Dr. Tracy from the center for policing equity. I agree that is what the training is supposed to do but i go back, what are we trying to solve for . I think that is what has to be answered. All too often, implicit bias training and antibias training is used to solve for something deeper and so i want to lift that up. Im the retired chief of the sheriffs office. [indiscernible] now im director, former director of Law Enforcement programs for the National Coalition building institute. [indiscernible] one of the things we understand about biases which we all have them, people may think you dont but you will have them in the antibias training is a way to acknowledge and recognize what your biases are, so you can then do something which would be beneficial instead of problematic, on injury or harm to others or interfere with your relationship with the community. Once you become aware of your biases, to look at how can you come up with a way to change that . As both my colleagues have indicated it is something we get over time and one of the things the mayor mentioned about psychological testing with new hires and officers who have been on a while. There are tests that can determine tendency for bias. But as you have been on longer in a department, that information so that you can see what accumulative effect has been on how you interact with people. My name is patrick, the president of the National Fraternal order of police and i would like to add to that as well. Bias training is a buzzword we like to throw out there and we have been having a lot of discussion about it now but i will take it a step further, when we talk about culture and culture is key within our agencies as well and it starts at the top. That culture is what allows us to build on. We can talk about bias training i want but the relative, what makes it relevant is the interactions in the communitybased relationships we build long before we have crises in our communities and that is vitally important to this. We can put water on the fire all we want but at the end of the day it is about the relationships we created an advance that allowed us to learn about bias and also allows us to truly understand different cultures. All right. Dr. Hodges there is one term i did not hear anybody say when they discussed bias. It is the term, race. I want to ask people, is there a difference between bias and racism . And if so, what . And if not, why do you think that . Who wants to jump first on that one . I am right behind you. I did not introduce myself. Guillermo lopez, and i codirect the lawenforcement pogrom for the National Coalition building institute. Of course, racism plays a big part in how biases get developed. Sexism plays a big part, homophobia and they all intersect when it comes to antibias. But i think in this place and time we are in, if we do not talk about how is it that we deconstruct institutional racism, we are missing the whole point. So whatever programs we do it has to be centered around interrupting institutional racism, dismantling institutional racism. And it is not just an antibias training. It is at all levels of training that we have to include this. Really quick, i think the question you are asking is how are these different . Im going to first, agree and plus one what guillermo said. They occupy the same space. And what is going on now is definitions of each of these and how you define them. Across the country people are defining these differently. How you define it is going to determine your approach to it. For example, for the center we define racism has accumulated patterns of behaviors that disadvantage one racial group and advantages another. That can include systems, policies and all the things that facilitate that. You can understand if you are doing automatic associations of groups with stereotypes, how that type of perspective and whether it is explicit or implicit influences each of those things. You can be explicit about not liking peoples color, and you can very much count on that you are influenced by something in that space, that has you making those particular outcomes. But i think what we are really talking about here, is often times these things are conflated. That if you want to talk about implicit bias or antibias training, you are therefore calling me a racist. And that is not what is happening here. And i have to say that. The other part of this is, how people are oriented around the space. We cannot forget, people are coming from different lived perspectives. Different family members are talking about things in a different way. Patrick was on point youre talking about the culture. It is not only about the broader culture but it is also about the culture of policing inside those buildings. What happens there. So we get into those spaces where we are trying to disentangle how much of this can we control for . And how much can we not . I can tell you the thing we cannot control for is that somewhat if we do plus a training, which i dont call training, i call awareness. Even if we do that, one thing you have to remember is the power of the influence of all those things that help you make those quick, automatic, stereotypical associations. Even if we train our young folks which happens when we want to hear from recruits, when they go home for christmas and they are sitting at a table with ma and pa and people who believe a certain way, it is hard for something to step up and break out of that. Or to stay silent and sit back from that. It is a difficult thing to disentangle, and i understand why people conflate it. But the definitions are critically important on how we begin to address it. So i wanted to make sure i offered that up. Dr. Hodges anybody else . So, i will stay on this one a little bit. Nationally, based on my experience, this is one area where we tend to get caught up on, in terms of, how do we define bias and racism . And are they the same thing . Can somebody be biased and not be a racist . Im going to argue yes. Im from minnesota. I like the vikings and not green bay. My biased against green bay . Yes. But i mean im putting it in that context. But if we want to have a discussion and permeate all fields, we have to discuss what is the difference between being biased and being racist. You said something i want to go to i think is key here. When you said, how you define it will determine how you approach it. A lot of times if you do not have the terminology right or are not speaking the same language, sometimes you get shut down. For everybody on here that is teaching, if you teach this in Law Enforcement long enough, if you come in and Say Something biased, automatically officers assume youre talking about race. I want to get back to this. If our panelists could try to give us in their definition, and i know, doctor, you touch on that briefly. How could we go about defining briefly the difference between bias and race . This is dwayne again and i look at racism, believe that a a fundamental belief that a persons color is superior to another persons color. So if im africanamerican i feel that maybe African American is superior to someone who is white. Is a veryy of that real, deliberate belief that youve got. I look at biases as byproducts of this. I think that you are correct. If a person is fundamentally racist that is a strong line you have drawn that you believe your skin color superior to that of someone else. Anybody else . Ok, the next question is, and your experience, can you tell us if antibias training has been effective or not . At reducing bias within Law Enforcement . [indiscernible] Training Needs to be more than a one off. Right . It needs to be consistent. It needs to be [indiscernible] embedded in the agency as well. So it has a tendency to make people aware for certain amount of time, until they get back into the system and start doing, and have that pressure from outside, to continue to treat people, in an unfair way, either as, where you just have a feeling about something, you favor one side versus another. With racism, it is systematic. This system that someone can spent 20 years in prison because because they attempted to conceal hedge clippers and then the courts dont overturn it on appeal. To me, that is a racist system. The effort needs to be more indepth and looking at how events, systems and in this country, as we are learning from history, it was built on a my angela says, [indiscernible] i think we are the point where we are starting to know better but we need to do better. We need to Start Talking about [indiscernible] because it is not going to go away if we do not talk about it. If we dont come up with models and ways to include and encourage each other, on how to interact with each other. Dr. Hodges anybody else . Is antibias training effective . And if not, why not . And if so, why do you think it has been effective . Go ahead. This is pat. Let me tell you my experience in 36 years of Law Enforcement and military training on this topic. We need to look at what Adult Learners are. They process things differently than anyone else in the main one is they need to know why it is relevant and it needs to be timely. Clearly, we have a timely discussion here. The question is, is it relevant . I can tell you that over the years i have attended different trainings. It was mentioned earlier and i agree we all have a certain amount of bias. In most cases we do not realize we have it. The other thing, we tend to get offended if people suggest have the discussion, the weight is framed makes it so much we are racist the way it is framed makes it sound like we are racist. When youre talking to an Adult Learner, the effectiveness of this training is truly going to have an impact on whether or not it is relevant, or on how it is approached. An open mind is going to have a lot more opportunity to be able to share those cultural differences that we all make up our biases, make us more conscious of it. But if it is not approached, properly, this falls on deaf ears. There is no doubt that it is effective but it is also in the delivery of it as well. Dr. Hodges go ahead. If i could, that sound right to me. Patrick does need not need me to cosign on this. Where im struggling is that even the signs tells you gives you mixed results. So the conversation, again, is really about what are we trying to solve for . If we want officers to be aware they come with biases, and how those things, how they come to be, and how do you try to manage that. Because that is the other thing, right . How do you slow that down here not making the association. It is not just about delivery. Some self reflective things need to happen with each individual officer. Because this is about racism ass well and you cannot avoid that conversation. Often we use this training to avoid that conversation. I agree, it is always in the approach. But i would be remiss as a black woman in policing for 30 years if i do not lift up the fact that people are exhausted, and tired of making people feel ok about this conversation. So i go back to, what is the shared language here . Do, so we alld to can make sure we are on the same definitions as much as possible and we are all solving or trying to find solutions for the same thing. Where we get stuck are folks , being so offended by the conversation and training that we never move forward. I can go back where the early diversity trainings were extremely offensive. Right . We sat there and shook our head like, what is this about . What is different here is you talk about the science that supports it. Also you have to talk about the practicality and reality of how this is being done. It is one thing to bring recruits or officers in a classroom for eight hours and say you have to haveit consistent. It also has to be measured. If we put people through this and nothing is happening, we need to do Something Different. We seem to be reluctant to do that. We also need to be able to help officers understand why these moments, at this moment, has come. I have seen thousands of officers and even in nypd, they do not understand why this conversation is important and necessary. So i agree with pat. You have to be able to ask plane to explain why. You do not have to believe it. But you have to understand their other lived perspectives on why this is going on now. The Adult Learner part is also 100 and it is what you are bringing to the classroom. If you are already thinking, this is going to offend you, i have to ask what is going on with you because that is never the intent, typically. And im not saying all instructors are great because some are horrible, but we need to be practical about what we are try to solve here. What we are trying to solve for here. Dr. Hodges thank you. And we have the mayor joining back on and i do not know if theres anything you would like to add the question here about do you think training is effective . And if not, why not . And if so, why so . Sharon i do not know if i can answer this question about why not. I do resonate with the comment that dr. Tracy put on the table, the competency and the construct of the training. Because you get out what you put in. And i actually believe there are an odd to be standards across the board for what ought to be included in the training and there are number of reports that talk about the role that these boards can play to ensure there is uniformity across the states. There needs to be more conversation about that, if we are trying to get improvements. Or if we are acknowledging that improvements are needed across the board. Dr. Hodges thank you. Anybody else have anything to add on this question . Yes, i would want to say, yes. It works, when all the parts that are needed are in place. So you have to start with assessing the group youre working with, versus coming in with a onesizefitsall. You have to assess the needs of the particular department youre working with. The group you are working with. And then, whoever the facilitators are, the department has to trust them. Just between the facilitators and the department, there has to be trust built, so they trust we are not trying to sell them a bag of goods. And then, inclusion, you need skills. Skills that talk about relationships. Skills that talk about we listen with intent to learn. Skills of those nature, and when you develop strong relationships, even within the department, you are willing to talk about these more difficult things. So, until you get to that Needs Assessment, Building Trust within the department, and then you can go after some of the hard stuff. When you do that, then you are prepped for going into the community, to hear the harder conversations with them. Dr. Hodges i want to stay on you for a because i know you do second this work. Can you briefly tell us about, what is your experience with this type of training . Yes, chief brooks and i have been doing this for probably 15 years together now. So, we do a partnership where i am from the community and she is from Law Enforcement. And early on we had to figure out, how is it that, how do we bridge each other . How does she, as a Police Officer, a Law Enforcement individual, break the barrier with community, as a black woman also . And me as a latino man, who is not Law Enforcement, how do i gain the trust of the officers . Let me tell you what i figured out in the beginning. Im a retired steelworker, and i worked 27 years in the steel mill, and i was involved with the union. And when i close my eyes and listen to the muster room of officers, i thought i was in the steel mill. They were workingclass kind of people. If you do not understand that when youre working with them, you will never gain their trust. And i was very fortunate that is what i came from, and i was able to use that experience to help them. Listen, im here to help you. Once we gained their trust, and one more thing i want to say, this training, to be most effective, does not mean every officer in the department is going to be the best. There are going to be some officers that probably will take the training, and not want anything to do with it anymore. And that does not make them a bad Police Officer. Then you will have other officers who are going to take to this like a duck to water and they are the ones who will conquer the change within the institution. Theyre the ones who make change with the community. When you have a significant portion of people working in this way, rowing together, departments change. We have Difficult Conversations because we want to be together. What we also do with the training is we acknowledge and recognize police is a culture as well. We do not go into the trainings pointing fingers and saying you are bad and you have to do this. We also have an opportunity for the Police Officers to acknowledge and be appreciated for their culture because they have culture. That is important, when you go and meet with the community. Because a lot of times Police Officers have this belief that, i cannot show my emotion cannot show anything [indiscernible] just about the facts. If you can lower your guard just a little bit. Im not saying risk officer safety, but when i am saying when you connect with community on a human level and they start to appreciate and trust you because they feel you know what , theyre talking about, a coming in and taking report and leaving [indiscernible] getting a couple extra units listening to their stories means a lot. And that is money in the bank as it were. Because it is not an if, it is a when, when something is going to happen, you want money in the bank with the community, so they have a sense they can trust you. And over the years that us not been as important as it seems to be. Is important to separate the difference between being uncomfortable and unsafe. We would never ask a Police Department or train anybody to not trusting her safety your safety training. Absolutely trust your safety training. But there has to be a place where uncomfortable. And i can tell you in my life the places i have learned the , most was when i was uncomfortable. But you separate when you are unsafe and uncomfortable. And lean into the uncomfortable because that is where we learn the most. Dr. Hodges i think most people can relate to feeling uncomfortable is growth. Im going to take second here and want to thank you all again for participating and let you know the national Law Enforcement museum, which is putting this on, im going to put a link in the chat to support it. Please do. They bring in solution based conversations to the public. When they opened their doors up they had very nice keychains and the last time i was in washington, d. C. , i bought some for my kids. They have nice events in there and it is a phenomenal building if you get a chance in washington, d. C. , to visit. If you get an opportunity, click on the link and support them. They are here trying to provide timely topics and solutions. National Law Enforcement memorial and museum the next question, do you believe bias training or antibias training should be taught in schools or to Committee Members also . Yes. [laughter] [laughter] [indiscernible] if so, why . And what would that look like . [laughter] Community Education programs, and Court Systems and judicial , systems, for attorneys, for everybody. Every person has biases. All those entities have an impact [indiscernible] in the community. Have an impact, negative or positive in the community. , how would that look like . Similar to what we do with Law Enforcement training. We Bring Community and law the Community Enforcement , together in the communities. We talk about how to interact with people. And thinking about customer service. [indiscernible] early in my career, my lieutenant sent an article for us to hear about customer service. What you think the reaction was . We do not have customers. [indiscernible] if the city could fire you, and my agency has that opportunity, it would change yourr mindset about customer service. What is it about going to a store that keeps you going back to the store . The elements of customer service. How you interact with people, being reliable, responsive, those elements of Law Enforcement. Also in community. [indiscernible] the community as well. And if we spend more time together, we trust each other more. That is a little bit of biases go quickly. [indiscernible] dr. Hodges thank you, doctor. I would like to piggyback on what she said, it is all about customer service. And i actually teach a class specifically about that. It is all about the relationships that we build. As Law Enforcement officers we are allowed to do, we are granted certain powers. For those powers do not come without a responsibility on our part to have the Community Support and trust. And so i agree a good dialogue and discussion on the Cultural Diversity of people and the way we process things differently, can cause us to do a lot of reflection on ourselves and our own beliefs. If it is done properly, absolutely we can benefit from that. I will absolutely have to agree. We are in the business of customer service. And the way we deliver that service will determine whether we meet the expectations of our communities. And if you look at what is going on across the country now, it illustrates we have a lot of work to do. , sir. Dges thank you anybody else want to chime in . I will add to that and say keep in mind, schools represent our future workforce and Law Enforcement. Right. You have this amazing opportunity to talk to young people. There are number of programs in schools now. It is a great, great opportunity to recruit, educate and inform young people about our profession. About our morals, ethics and what we believe in. And to protect and serve their own communities. The biggest thing is a pipeline to our profession. Booker, i would add that many cities across the country have established Police Community academies, where Community Members and Law Enforcement officers are working together to understand and assess problems in the community. And then also learn something about each other. And the rules, and the practices and procedures associated with policing. A lot of people do not have this information. It is very helpful in building a foundation for relationships. The Police Athletic league, the Community Block clubs, where Police Officers are assigned to specific neighborhoods, and given the time they need to build the relationships that are based on mutual respect. These things all have a way of helping to bridge the gaps that exist between our Police Departments and our communities. These programs are not fluff, wish we could do kinds of things. These are really important and critical to have establishing positive policecommunity relationships. One of the reasons im such a fan of the work that noble does, is they have a specific strategy associated with reaching out to the children in the communities where their chapters are present. This builds a pipeline for recruits. But it also builds a longstanding relationship of mutual trust and respect and you never know when you might have to tap into those relationships to get some support that Law Enforcement needs in our community to more effectively do their job. Dr. Hodges thank you. Im going to add a caveat to this question and i want people to weigh in on it. If police come from society, right . Police, the foundation of policing, is based in society. People, humans, make up Police Forces and all of the talk has been about antibias training for Law Enforcement and it seems like the expectation is that we are going to take training and give it to people when they join the profession but, should more of the emphasis be on trying to focus on that training in a Foundational Framework as the vast majority of Public Attitudes and Law Enforcement officers all come from the public . And if people believe that we should focus on the public, heres the jump in the water question. How do we teach the public now, to not cast all police in the same light . When one Police Officer or if a few Police Officers make public mistakes . Can you repeat your question one more time . Dr. Hodges Law Enforcement officers come from the foundation of Law Enforcement officers is the general public. Do you think bias training would be better focused there are two parts. What bias training be better focused dealing with the community now . And if so, in this environment, how do we teach the public that, excuse me, how would we frame conversations around people casting light on the entire Law Enforcement profession, based on the actions of a few Law Enforcement officers. Now you have kids out there, the minute they see someone in a Law Enforcement uniform, it does not matter who the person is but it is that you have uniform on. Should we focus training more in society . Or in conjunction with Law Enforcement . And how would we work the training now, to teach people not to view Police Officers all in the same way . I like the question. But i think these are not mutually exclusive. Right . These things have to happen simultaneously. The other part we have to talk about is why folks are ascribing the events of one person to an entire group of people. Right . The community would tell you, the same thing they believe Police Officers do about the black community. One person does something wrong and the entire community is paying the price for that. For me that is where it starts. I think we said earlier we have so many similarities on where we want to be. We have to be able to unpack that. Before you can bring this together to have a conversation, those are incultural conversations. When we talk about historically, how people are viewed by other folks, cops are talking about the same thing. Right . Youre saying one person to minneapolis, where all that way. You are saying theres this one person in minneapolis, and we are all that way. That message is getting lost. It is as a a person of color commits crimes we are not all , that way. That is one person. Why are we being attached to the individual decision. We are talking the same language. For some reason we cannot hear each other. That is where that training begins. We are all occupying the same space living in two different worlds. I wouldve never believed it when i was younger if someone told me that. We are speaking different languages. But we are all trying to get to the same space. The training for me as part of it, a small part of it. I think most, say they have biases, against Police Officers and vice a versa. It is the process we do together, together. I do not think you have to do one before the other and all the work should be happening now. But in order for the work to happen in that way, you still have to address the things that are coming up. For some reason we want to put aside historically what has happened for some. Everybody is like, it is history and it was not me. But it is a signal, you do not understand the power of that uniform and what it meant historically and currently for some folks. We are not talking about ancient history, but recent history. There are ways we need to have the conversations and teach folks, but i have to remind communities that cops do not make policy. I have stood in more Community Meetings about cops doing things, cops were told to do. If you want to start dealing with somebody, the chief needs to put the chief up front and have them answer to that. Answer why you have decided this is the way you want to approach it . This is when we talk about why organizations have to have diversity in the ranks. Because there are differences. There are different perspectives. These are two separate things. You cannot put one before the other. Everybody has work to do. Everybody has got work to do. If i can piggyback on what dr. Tracy said. When we do an assessment of the department we also do an assessment of the community. Because you cannot do it without both of them. And so we ask the community the asking the department. Same questions we are asking the department. What is going well . What could be better . What could people do to make a change . To make a difference . If you could change something, what would you change . Sometimes the police, it is [indiscernible] we also preface the training by providing information, in the sort of a [indiscernible] that is how we develop the training we provide to the community and to the police. We also preface the training by providing information, in the sort of an attempt, and awareness of what the training is for the police before we bring it to the community. Police officers do not like to share information. And they do not want to reveal much. Know and dont to not like surprises. So what is the training going to be like . If we do that first it helps the training go better because there no surprises in terms of the model. The surprises may come in the discussion but that is different and that is ok. It is uncomfortable and you lean into the uncomfortable you have and you have a better relationship at the end of it. I would add the old saying you know the truth shall set you free. When it comes to education, especially young people, the truth we teach them will set us all free. I was going to add, when we should all spend a few moments just thinking about what happens, what we think about when we deconstruct the fact that africanamerican parents, parents of brown children, all have to, by age 9 or 10 years old, have a talk with their children, about what possibly could happen. It is because of the stereotypes, that chief brooks and dr. Casey have shared. These stereotypes in these biases have been embedded into our thought process, in the way we assess community. Not just the police, but again, this is acrosstheboard. But we really need to understand that everybody has a role to play, in getting us where we need to go. But it starts with truth telling. And people accepting responsibility, for their actions. You know, i grew up with my parents giving me the talk. I get to talk to my kids. My kids are calling me after orlando castillo, saying mom, heres a guy who followed all of the rules and he still got shot and killed. These are not conversations want to have with your children. But again, they are based on people stereotyping people because of race, where they live, class, you name it, it happens. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] dr. Hodges thank you for that. We have a bunch of panel questions, from people in the audience. We are going to ask one more question before audience questions. Then im going to ask if the panel can stay over later than intended, due to the amount of questions we have. We will go from there. A question i have, like many of you, i have taught this topic all over the country. You see, nationally, a difference in the police chief, and line officers. Right . A lot of times you will see line officers taking this training, and the chief does not, right . In a lot of cases you will see most chiefs are politically aligned in a different alignment than their line officers, right . So what do you think, how would , you suggest getting this training to not only to the line officers, but specifically to the leadership of Law Enforcement organizations . For us, we know how important it is for leadership to buy in. If we do not have buyin from leadership, i am pretty sure we have turned down jobs because we cannot get that. It just will not work. If you do not have the leadership walking the talk, why should the rest of the body follow . It just does not make sense when you do not have leadership taking it. So for us, i cannot imagine doing it any other way. And the other thing is, we actually train leadership in depending on how we assess it in a more intense kind of way than we do the regular officers and we actually do a slightly different version for cadets, younger officers, and that is has proved, for us and the assessments we get, that it helps from, i dont want to say get poisoned, but when you were working a position 20 some years, you have a particular way of looking at it . And when a young officer comes in, ive heard more than one say they are told forget about what , you learned in the academy. I will teach you what it is like. We have to strengthen the young officers to be able to resist that. Im not condemning the officers that say that. I dont think we treat them well enough. Personally, i dont think anybody should be on the streets no more than three years at a time and taken off and put in up a position where they doing social service. My thinking about what policing should do is a whole lot different from what we do now. We dont treat police human enough and expect a lot from them in that sense. So in my best thinking, i think there should be a rotation to help them get through all the stuff they figure out and get a better sense of the rest of the world. Dr. Hodges it is interesting you say that. Then i will get to dr. Tracy after that, we will get to audience questions. That three year rotation piece you talk about, when you work narcotics in most places, you are out of there in three years because they know you cannot stay in that position for more than three years without something getting broken. With that, dr. Tracy . Dr. Tracy the question was leadership. What do you do without . I think you train them first. Darrell centerright you train them first. , you get more out of training that group to determine whether or not this will be legitimate or not. And you can tell when you finish who you will have problems with. And those are conversations you have with the chief. Because if the message gets distorted from the top, if one steps to the side and gets approached by a colleague and ask for their opinion and they say, i think it is ridiculous, it is a done deal. So it is helping to achieve helping the chief understand not just the importance of it but looking at their own issues. If you areg to have challenges but if you are on the same page about the perspective and moving forward, then things may be problematic. The other thing that has to happen in that space where this is what we are talking about they have to unpack their own , historical biases in that class. A few have gone through the ranks, you have seen some things. You cannot act like all of a sudden when you put the stars on that it was not you. Because it was you. Anybody who has been raised in an Organization Long enough knows the history of our own folks. So it is more than a class. It is really this self reflective piece that has to be inserted into leadership for them to understand that you lead by example. That is what im not hearing. Right . Because you can have them in class and i have had many chiefs in class and they Start Talking about things on the side and i think that was a waste of time. Not only officers have to be held accountable, but the organization has to be held accountable as well. Dr. Hodges we got some good audience questions and i am glad i am sitting here and not where you are today. [laughter] one question comes from mr. Williams. He says, how do we address the conflict between the perception of racist behavior by police, and the statistics that officers shoot black suspects at a rate lower than black suspects shoot at officers. And less than the rate of violent criminal acts against their own communities . It depends on what your report you are reading. Lets start by grounding in that way. I want to speak more not just to perception but to lived experience. Im all for science but there is one thing you cannot ignore and that is the lived experience. Sometimes we have an overreliance on science allete taught let science talk for us. To help actions drive what may or may not the true work has to be happening happen on the , ground with Police Departments and communities. You hear people say perception is someones reality, which is true. But lived experience in stories are true. One of the things we have to keep from doing is trying to determine and impose who do we believe and not believe . That is really what we are coming down to now. Is not as bad as it is you is not as bad as you think it is or it is as bad as you think it is. But what is happening is the practicality of how you find that out. The reason i appreciate that question is that is the crux of the conversation, what is really happening . What is really not happening . This is where we seem to get stuck. It is a space i call analysis paralysis. We can do this all day. Five different scientists, and all you have to do is get you get five different outcomes. But i tell people when we think about it, broaden how you are understanding your learning. If you want to know what is going on, talk to the cops and the community. The people who are closest to the problem. They will more than likely give you what you need or tell you what you need in order to start making adjustments. Science can only get you so far. It can also be done to believe what you want to believe which im not thing is wrong or right but you have to broaden and have a bigger understanding about the lived experience. That people are telling you. Folks are not in the street for no reason. You have to understand that. Beside folks who are destroying things in a violent manner and im not that is not what im talking about. Im talking about 75 days of demonstrating and protesting. Those who do it peacefully are therefore a reason. That is what you have to start understanding is why . Dont get distracted. By what we used to say folks are going to do what theyre going to do. Try to understand why people are still in the streets. It is not just about policing. By the way so i want to make sure i looked that up. Dr. Hodges anyone else . I do think this question is one that comes up a lot, and i typically will tell people on this one, it is hard to have when you got feelings versus a fact, and there is Something Different you cant have a feelings argument with the facts person and vice versa. And you cant have a fax argument with a feelings person. It doesnt work. You have to get together and get to a space where at some point, you will have to come to some resolution. So i do think that is a good question. And answer. The last part of this question is, how is it we can address this perception that all lawenforcement behavior is racist . I dont think everyone has that same perception. They dont think all, there are some. Im not saying there is never anybody, there. But again, it goes back to the majority of the folks. The majority of the people, even in the black community, thing think that the police have a purpose. So you have to decide what soundbite to listen to. But how you get rid of this perception of all cops are racist is how we hold ourselves accountable. Part of the Big Conversation that we have been having over the last threemonths has been about accountability, and whether or not it is been consistent . For like one day we can say we can fire somebody and then we know there is a due process there. It is really about, how do we go about making sure the that we understand when we do absolutes, and dr. Quigley said, it is emotional respect. But we cannot do absolutes because not everybody thinks that way. When we get caught up in absolutes is when we come out not having a conversation. Not everyone in the black community thinks all white officers are racist. That is just it. There will be some, but not all. Im always careful with that. When we have these conversations, lets not set up they all think this way because they absolutely do not. [inaudible] there are some people who we are not holding lawenforcement officers accountable for their conduct. And they think accountability is just something we cannot lose sight of. Dr. Hodges patrick . I want to piggyback on what was said. I think the problem we have and i do not believe that everyone thinks Police Officers are racist. I do think there is a problem there and when we need to take headon and have this dialogue. But i will say this, there is nothing that if we set down and have these conversations with an open mind that we cannot find solutions to. The problem we have in the space and time right now is there are some people who dont want that harmony, they dont want this dialogue, and they do what they can to stop it. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. If we truly are going to get past this, and i will have to agree with what the doctor said. This is much greater than lawenforcement. We have a lot of issues that are causing a lot of challenges in our communities, and if we dont take them all headon and have realistic conversations, we will find ourselves here again having the same conversation down the road. We need to sit down and have open dialogue. We need to have respect for each other. That is something that doesnt exist. It starts at the top. I look at city administrators in cities where we are trying to have dialogue and trying to have solutions, and they create a bigger divide and it makes it real hard to have these conversations. We can go all the way up to the top or all the way to the bottom but the reality is, until we have people willing to sit down and have meaningful discussions on a path forward, we will have a hard time making any progress. Dr. Hodges thank you. I think some of the things that are happening is when people are oppressed, and they are oppressed enough when they push back, they look up to see who is holding them down. And i think right now, when they look up, they see the police. The police are being used as middle agents in our society, and it is not fair. But unfortunately, that is where we are at. I think the other thing that has to happen is we have to learn, and Law Enforcement and in Law Enforcement and leadership, to understand when people are bringing up the issue of systemic racism, to not take it so personal. That systemic racism is centuries old. It is just has come to the point that the more we become clear as human beings, we understand the damage it has done, and we are saying more than anything, this systemic thing has to stop, but unfortunately, many of the people who dont understand the history of it are taking it personal. And we have to figure out how to flesh that out. Dr. Hodges hold that and i am going to get back to that with the question after this question. [laughter] the next question comes from joshua who asks his question is, are there any unconscious are there any recommended unconscious bias or Awareness Training that exists as widely accepted by Police Officer . Can you make any recommendations for programs in which officers would not get defensive and would be willing to learn in a positive way . I dont know if i want to do selfpromotion. Any,sten i do not know if of all of the departments we have worked, when we have come away, we always hear things like this. What we hear from the communities are, when i drive by and i see a Police Officer pull someone over, i pray for the person who was pulled over. After being part of this, i pray for both of them now. Those of the simple things we have to shift. Officers are human too, and we have to embrace some change here on the level of authoritits. This middle agent piece i talked about is big in this piece we have to figure out. Yeah. I think we are effective. We always get actually they can never afford to bring us back a second time. Chief, what do you think . One of the things that i recognized when we first identify training, when the training started, officers were sitting like this, right . By the end of the training, they were listening to what we have to say. It wasnt so bad. [inaudible] maybe that is a good thing. Dr. Hodges i laugh when people always say when they see a squad car they get scared. ,even when i was in uniform and i would see another squad car, i would get scared. [inaudible] [laughter] it had nothing to do with my my race. People can understand, cops are the same as people. We are. The next question i will ask is from ed kennedy. He asks them is there any evidence of institutional racism other than a subjective opinion . What proof is there that it exists . Im sitting here and you guys are there. [laughter] do you need me to repeat it . Sadly enough, at least in the United States, a significant amount of our american institutions have systemic racism. There were not a silly credit for African Americans or latinos. This is going back hundreds of years. As of the current environment, when you look at traffic stops, when you look at incarceration rates, you look at it and there is no reasonableness on how you explain the differences in africanamericans incarcerated versus the rest of the population and traffic stops. So yes there are numerous levels , of data. I also should say people say to , me, how do you correlate that to the nation . Keep in there are proximally 18,000 Law Enforcement agencies. The numbers i just gave our national. Alsoe everyday citizen can sit down and look at your own local Police Department. You can ask questions about the demographics. Of those whove been pulled over for traffic stops. Also, hold your elected officials accountable. Council. Rs, your city most Police Agencies reflect who they work for. They work for the citizens and in many ways they are working for your mayors your city , council members, etc. Anybody else . Booker, i would just say that there are a number of studies that are available everywhere, every Academic Institution and and every persuasion. So you can find evidence just from minnesota, one of the the bodies of evidence that we have been talking about for the last year has been a project done by the university of minnesota called the redline project. It has provided historical evidence of institutional racism in banking that has really led to a serious income wealth gap in minnesota. There are other reports that outline, again, from the university of minnesota published in the new england journal of medical science on historical and systemic racism in regard to covid. There are reports here in the and United States and similar reports in the u. K. So there is a body of evidence that people who are looking for them can find to i am not sure why we are still questioning whether or not institutional racism exists, but if we are, there are certainly peerreviewed evidence for the pervasiveness of institutional racism in our country. In a number of sectors, not just in policing. Dr. Hodges thank you for that. The next question is from josh. How would you structure this longterm continuous, mitigating unconscious bias training in order to move away from the one and done training . Chief brooks and i use a fourlayer system. We start with the Needs Assessment and going to trust building with the department itself, and then, we going to skills building within, and then, we train them in Sustainable Partnership programs with the community. So, it is a long process. You know, you just dont unpack this stuff. It is like opening up a suitcase and emptying it. It is not like that. There are tons of baggage we have to get through, and the real work is teaching how to communicate in a way that you want to work together. And then, the work continues with Sustainable Partnerships, that they continue the work. Our work is always that we teach them how to continue these skills with the trainings we do so they can do it for themselves. We believe that whatever we do, they should be able to replicate. And it become sustainable. I would like to piggyback on that as well. And you know, this was not a box you check. Ok, we have had this training and it is done and we satisfy whatever reason we had it on there. I think that you have again, it goes a it goes back to the culture. It starts at the very top. We can talk and train all we want. We can get officers in a room and talk about it and have some meaningful discussion, and maybe have some self reflection. But the key component to any success of this program would be a public involvement part of it. I would offer one as a suggestion. I have had a great bit of experience doing this and i dont think enough agencies across the country and those that do dont do at a large enough bandwidth. Is to do citizens academies. Citizens academies do two things. They teach why we do the complexities of Law Enforcement that most dont take the time to consider. When they pass judgment on officers. Anytime we can empower people with more information is going to be beneficial, but the other side of that is, it creates twoway communication. We can talk until we are blue in so the face in classrooms and , tell people what they need to know, but it is that interaction in a nonthreatening setting to where we can have some meaningful discussion, and have that twoway dialogue that will help all of us calibrate our voices. [inaudible] i like to piggyback on what guillermo set as well that you need to get commitment to this. There are programs we are involved with where budgetary constraints did not allow us to continue. Can i add really quickly about the citizens academy, about bringing people in to understand what we do . Equally as important that is something that happened at nypd. Those are community academies, where the folks who live and work in those precincts go into the community and learn about the history of that community that is there and who are the informal leaders and what they do. And how do you again, begin to make that twoway . Often times, we restrict what we mean by community. When we make a call, it is folks will look like my mom and probably around my age who show up. You are missing a whole group of people who do not act in this way. They do not communicate in this way. I caution when we say how do we sustain this from a Community Perspective . You have new generations of folks where this is not ideal. Having me come to you to learn what you are going to do to me is not what i call learning. We also need to rethink how do we present or offer up what the role is. Part of the larger conversation about sustainability is what is the role of policing now . If we can answer some of these because questions before we get to this and i think the training is still useful, but we are innate shift now. We are shifting to the point where we are questioning what the role of police is in Public Safety . We have to make sure whatever we do with this particular antibias, we have to look at the systems that produce these folks. And so, it is one thing to do a Community Partner handout, but it is another way to look inside an organization and see how people get transferred, promoted into special units. What is the organizational environment inside that does not feel fair . We have to align a lot of things. I think it is important that the community does learn they hold these biases. We also have the opportunity to unpack all of these other things along with it so we dont just try to do one thing and move on. We seem to be the only lever people are pulling right now. You have housing, transportation, all of the same issues here, health. I want to make sure we talk soi want to make sure we talk about pulling one lever, you have to pull them all. It does seem to stop at the feet of police and that cannot happen. Dr. Hodges in the interest of time, i will ask this one question and we will wrap up. Im sorry to the rest of you that we could not get to your questions because we had some really good ones, but this last one will give people a take away from this event hopefully. So the last question is, what do , you recommend as a way to bring policy in line with training to ensure that change lasts . What would you recommend as a way to bring policy in alignment with making sure these types of trainings have lasting effects . On departments. One thing i would add or say to that is, we have to change the questions that we keep asking. We have to make the questions match the outcomes that we want. And i dont think we do that. I think we are stuck in an old way of asking questions. You know with the definition of crazy is . Doing the same thing over and over. We have to change that. If we want more diversity in police, we have to ask questions that lead to that. If we want trust in the police and community with police, when we are recruiting, we have to ask, what is your strength in that area . We have to attach the questions that match what we are looking for to see happen. Dr. Hodges thank you. Anybody out on that one . I will take a shot and i think it does fit into the wheelhouse. If we look across the country, we find a number of agencies that truly get it. They are very proactive. They have Great Community relationships, low crime, have partnerships that exist. When you talk about policy and how policy meets the outcome, i would suggest maybe put in an equal amount of attention to the models of those who truly get it, those agencies that are diverse, those agencies that truly have that right mixture. Those are the ones we should be highlighting and pointing out. I will piggyback on what was just said, by mr. Lopez, you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got. In a lot of instances, we dont know but we are not getting. And i think if we can highlight who those truly have a good mixture with agencies, that have a Strong Community relationship, and are not dealing some of the crises we see across the country, those are the ones we ought to be learning from because they get it. They get it. And they practice it every day. And that is where policy meets practice. Dr. Hodges i want to thank the panel again, and to everyone attending and to everyone watching you will be able to get this on social media afterwards. Here is a take away. When you look at everyones bios from the session, you wouldve thought people wouldve came on here yelling and screaming at each other, or having vehement disagreements about issues. But this proves i dont think we are too far apart on these issues and how we approach them, and as a society, i am personally hopeful that we can move forward, and we can continue to do what we need to do to ensure that we all get along. Law enforcement is still one of the most noble professions on earth. I think our communities expect and deserve great policing, and we expect Police Officers to respect everybody, but at the same time, we have to respect the Police Officers. That come into our neighborhoods. Without i will turn it over to marsha to close this out. Dr. Hodges a huge thanks for , you for leading this discussion and a huge thanks to all of our panelists. Although we can go on for hours, we want to be respectful of our panelists demanding schedules, but we will be back with relevant discussions. That will be relevant and timely to Law Enforcement and community needs. Again, thank you to target him and to Thomson Reuters, or making this program possible. As you know, covid19 is putting a significant strain on resources. Everyones financial the national Law Enforcement museum is no exception. This program was brought to you at no cost, and we hope you enjoyed it enough to make a donation to the museum. You can find a link in the chat box at the bottom of your screen, or you can go to your zoom invite, or actually go onto our website at lawenforcementmuseum. Org. Join us on september 9 on another discussion on equitable policing throughout the coronavirus pandemic. You will be receiving emails on that program of the next few weeks. Again thanks to our sponsors target and Thomson Reuters and we discussed policy issues that impact you. Coming up we discuss the federal appears court rehearing the Michael Flynn case with law professor and former u. S. Attorney Barbara Maclean and with former Republican Senate Judiciary Committee counsel and former u. S. Attorney. Watch washington journal live at 7 00 eastern this morning and to be sure to join the discussion. Cspans washington journal and American History tv on cspan3 mark the 100th anniversary of the womens suffrage and delay ratification of the ninth teens amendment 19th amendment. Hogan joins the Hooper Institution today for a discussion on federalism and they coronavirus pandemic. Live coverage begins at 4 00 eastern on cspan. The contender about the men who ran for the presidency but lost and lost but changed history. Tonight, threetime candidate and one of the best orators of his time, William Jennings bryan. The president s, available in ebooker, paperback, and presents biographies of every president inspired by conversations with historians about the leadership skills that make for a successful presidency. As americans decide who should lead our country, this book offers perspectives into the lives and events that forged each president s leadership style. Cspan. Org thepresident s. Available wherever books are sold. Selected kamala andis as his running mate the 2020 race, calling her one of the countrys finest public servants. Kamala harris previously served as californias attorney general when she11 until 2017 was sworn in as a u. S. Senator. Year, she of last launched her own bid for the presidency. We take a look at her president ial Campaign Announcement that took place in her hometown of oakland, california
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.