Full question: The Department’s website talks about bias-free training including classes, roll-call meetings and handouts. How much active training (as opposed to passive reading or listening to a lecture) is required of officers annually? What kind of additional training do officers receive on trauma-responsiveness, de-escalation, mental health issues, etc? How are these trainings evaluated for effectiveness?
Answer: While some of our training occurs in classroom settings, the Department also utilizes several other forums. We utilize role play and dynamic simulation training. The annual flagship training course on bias free policing has a significant amount of interactive participation, requiring officers to participate in scenario-based examples during which they participate in panel discussions and focus groups. Officers are frequently asked to advocate and comment on positions other than that of law enforcement to ensure they fully understand different perspectives on any given situation.
Mental health, stress and trauma, and de-escalation are circumstances that are continuously and regularly included in and related to our bias free police training and in several other training areas and exercises.
Our training effectiveness is evaluated during our biannual evaluation by CALEA, our national accreditation organization. CALEA sets several benchmarks associated with bias-free policing that we must meet to maintain our accreditation. We also have maintained compliance with the Ohio Collaborative recommendations in this area of policing. Currently, we are looking at the myriad of suggested reforms and input about bias free policing.
Lastly, we evaluate our effectiveness based on the number of complaints we receive pertaining to biased behavior in a citizen-police encounter.