Social emotional awareness, competency and wellness aren\u2019t things a state\u2019s top lawyer commonly promotes. But this is exactly what Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is doing for his part in the redesign of law enforcement training to eliminate needless escalation in interactions with members of the public.<\/p>\n
We appreciate Weiser\u2019s attention to these competencies \u2013 they develop moral courage. Especially helpful in moments when officers make split-second choices in situations with irreversible consequences.<\/p>\n
Weiser\u2019s ah-ha moment came in summer 2017 when visiting Alamosa Sheriff Robert Jackson, who said 90% of people in his jail were struggling with opioid addiction. Weiser then realized law enforcement needed some new tools. The connections among criminal justice, education and health care needs all became crystal clear \u2013 they had to be trauma-informed. And addiction stigmas did no good.<\/p>\n
This epiphany set Weiser on a journey to prepare officers for better community policing with new sensitivities, new disciplines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t recognize what\u2019s causing the struggle, you will undermine effective policing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Broad skills come from three foundational courses: Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics or ICAT, a scientifically validated de-escalation system; Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement or ABLE, to intervene productively with other officers; and Ethical Decision Making Under Stress or EDMUS, to help officers make better choices in high-stress environments.<\/p>\n
Especially timely is ABLE after the horrific assault and killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, in January. ABLE empowers officers to take action immediately in the face of potential misconduct or unnecessary use of force by fellow officers. They can lean into training models (the three Ds \u2013 distract, delegate, direct), and have the language and experience of practice to respectfully interrupt other officers to change the trajectory of a circumstance going wrong.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just one more area of training an officer can lean into and rely on. Officers also learn how to recognize and manage their own trauma, which can heighten in bad times and influence actions.<\/p>\n
These competencies support peace officers\u2019 mental wellness and have potential to build public trust in law enforcement. Beyond being cops, they\u2019re training to become more evolved humans in moments that require expertise and finesse. Like dousing a fire with water, empathy and compassion guide officers when they respond.<\/p>\n
Weiser is chairman of the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. Together, his office and the Denver Police Department brought ABLE to state law enforcement agencies. Through POST, Weiser knows Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin and La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith. Both Nowlin and Smith are \u201cexemplars of this mindset\u201d of mental health in law enforcement. Good news for all of us.<\/p>\n
Sadly, social emotional learning has become politicized, particularly in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis flagged and censored elementary school math books with cartoon children pop-ups alongside equations that nudge students toward critical thinking and reasoning. An explanation for one of the textbooks rejected is because of this line: \u201cTo learn together, disagree respectfully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s second-graders or police on the street, we sure hope peers can \u201cdisagree respectfully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another example from a math book under a section \u201cLearn Together,\u201d includes, \u201cShare your ideas: Say what you think to help you and others learn; Value ideas from others: There are many ways of thinking; Listen with an open mind: Be ready to think about what others have to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
No, we\u2019re not going off into the (marshy) weeds; it\u2019s the same principle. Social emotional learning offers valuable skills for all of us.<\/p>\n
We connected with Weiser while he was here for stops in Durango and Cortez. On Wednesday, he swung by The Hub, an alternative school and therapeutic educational model for at-risk students in the Durango School District.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is absolutely at the cutting edge of what we need to be doing,\u201d Weiser said about The Hub.<\/p>\n
Weiser and his team are going good work, investing in the culture of law enforcement to value mental health and wellness, for officers as well as citizens they serve. Because it also comes down to how we react \u2013 or respond \u2013 in a single moment.<\/p>\n
In a speech to Law Enforcement Academy Graduation at Colorado Mountain College in May, Weiser spoke about \u201cthe true north of the profession\u00ad \u2013 doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reason.\u201d Social emotional skills training will move officers closer to making their best decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
officers\u2019 mental health, new competencies mean effective policing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[125],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-newsletter-opinion"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33957"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}