David Hunn
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Gov. Jay Nixon ordered a state commission on Thursday to overhaul police training in Missouri by Dec. 1, in hopes of reducing officer-involved shootings, improving community relationships and teaching officers to better cope with the emotional rigors of the job.
Nixon’s announcement comes months after the Ferguson Commission, which he appointed about a year ago after a Ferguson officer shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown — which touched off nationwide protests — called for a massive increase in hours of police training.
The number of hours and types of training required by the state for police officer continuing education, Nixon said, has barely changed since 1996. The length of police academy basic training required in the state’s bigger counties has essentially stagnated, too, at 600 hours, since 1979, according to state data.
“We’ve got to update our training,” Nixon said on Thursday, during a news conference at the St. Louis Police Academy downtown. “We all know a lot has changed since 1996.”
Officers have, at times, become “revenue agents,” he said. Nixon said the new requirements, coupled with ongoing municipal court reform, will represent a “significant shift” in law enforcement in Missouri.
Ferguson Commission co-chairmen, the Rev. Starsky Wilson and Rich McClure, who attended the news conference, called the changes “critical.”
In April, the Ferguson Commission unanimously endorsed a package of reforms for training police officers, intended to fight racial bias, reduce the use of force and enhance a “climate of care and accountability.”
The commission recommended police officers spend eight hours a year in anti-bias classes focused on preventing racial profiling. Law enforcement officers currently must take an average of one hour of anti-bias training each year.
“It’s really past time for the proposals to be acted on and implemented,” McClure said Thursday.
Many police departments already ask more of their officers than the state requires: St. Louis County police get 916 hours of basic training; St. Louis city officers must pass 1,066 hours, and the state Highway Patrol requires 1,241, according to the Missouri Department of Public Safety.
But smaller departments may have difficulty meeting new standards, several said.
Nixon did not direct the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to add a specific number of hours to officers’ annual requirements. Changing police academy hours would require a vote of the Legislature.
Instead, he asked the POST Commission to boost instruction in three “key areas” — tactical training, fair and impartial policing, and officer health.
Nixon said he wants officers to be able to de-escalate volatile situations and correctly assess threats, develop trust within the diverse communities they serve, and gain tools to stay healthy, mentally and physically.
Nixon called police work “one of the most difficult and underappreciated jobs in America.”
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said after the news conference that, certainly, the hope is that higher standards will reduce things like officer-involved shootings and incidents of resisting arrest. But it is also to help officers deal with the job’s highs and lows. Far more police officers commit suicide than get shot, Dotson said.
“We view ourselves as tough guys,” Dotson said.
City police Sgt. Kevin Ahlbrand, a Ferguson Commission member and president of the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, said he also worried that some standards would be difficult for smaller, rural police departments. Still, he echoed Dotson’s call for more officer wellness training — such as, perhaps, peer counselors.
“Across the country, we’ve been woefully inadequate, and know we need to concentrate on that,” he said Thursday. “It’s a challenge for cops. We’re the last ones to admit we have an issue.”
Nixon also appointed five new commissioners to the state’s Peace Officers Standards and Training board on Thursday, including St. Louis Police Detective Edward Clark.
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