“People are saying, ‘if Officer Chauvin had implicit bias training, why did this happen?’” says Harteau. “It’s hard to prove or track the crimes you prevented.” But she maintains that the training is necessary.
Bicking, who has spent years fighting for dramatic police department reform in Minneapolis, sees explicit racism as more of a modern problem than cities might like to admit. “You can see it, hear it in their language, see it in statistics in how many Blacks versus whites are victims,” says Bicking. . And mandated attendance could feed a sense of conflict they feel against the communities they patrol.
First, the training should not be mandatory. Eugene Borgida, a professor of psychology and law at the University of Minnesota, claims that forced participation tends to make participants defensive and untrusting, which makes for a less effective program. Slowly gaining the respect and interest of a few officers at a time may be a better strategy than mandating the process for an entire department.
No it will NOT help. It will only make them angrier that they have to take the classes.
Sad, but very true. Police depts need better initial and periodic training, initiate improved, more comprehensive psych evaluations prior to hiring, have periodic follow up psych evals and be aware of potential PTSD issues if they continue to give job preference to veterans.