Overview
The purpose of this report is to provide an update on POST efforts to advance the “Principled Policing: Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias” course and infuse the tenets of Principled Policing within a broad cross-section POST courses and programs. Principled Policing teaches policing approaches that emphasis respect, listening, neutrality, and trust (Procedural Justice). It simultaneously addresses the common implicit biases that can be barriers to these approaches (Implicit Bias). Law enforcement can improve trust and relationships between themselves and their communities by using these principles to evaluate policies, procedures and training within their departments.
Principled Policing (8 Hours)
The one-day (8-hour) course is designed to help law enforcement officers overcome barriers to neutral policing, and rebuild relationships of trust between law enforcement and the community. This course fosters a learning environment where attendees can engage in honest dialogue which includes addressing the way implicit bias in policing undermines public trust, and the devastating effects it can have on the safety and well-being of our communities. The course is free to participating POST agencies, and satisfies Continuing Professional Training (CPT).
The course contains 5 key modules.
- Module 1- Interactive Nature of Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, Implicit Bias and Goals
- Module 2- Expectations and Legitimacy
- Module 3- Procedural Justice
- Module 4- Historical and Generational Effects of Policing
- Module 5- Implicit Bias
Course participants learn by reviewing research findings, watching video clips and PowerPoint presentations illustrating key points, hearing from officers who share personal experiences with community members, participating in group exercises, and engaging in frank and honest dialogue. The training also includes discussions about the goals and motivations of police officers, the sources of stress and cynicism in policing, the historical and generational effects of policing, and finally, strategies for simultaneously enhancing police-community trust and improving the health and safety of police officers. All participants must complete a pre-course and post-course survey, which Stanford University compiles and analyzes in order to assess the effectiveness of the course.
There are now 15 presenters certified to offer this 8-hour course. They are the Berkeley Police Department, CA Department of Justice, Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department, CSU Long Beach, Elk Grove Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, No. Calif Regional Public Safety Training Authority, Richmond Police Department, Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, San Bernardino Police Department, San Diego Regional Training Center, San Francisco Police Department, San Jose Police Department, South Bay Regional Training Consortium, and Stockton Police Department. An additional four agencies are in the certification process. They are the Chino Police Department, Martinez Police Department, San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, and San Francisco Sheriff’s Department.
A total of 2,601 students from 108 agencies have completed this course to date. This is almost an additional 1,000 attendees since the previous report to the Commission in October.
Principled Policing - Train the Trainer (24 Hours)
The Principled Policing - Train the Trainer course provides a “how-to” on teaching those policing approaches which emphasize respect, listening, neutrality, and trust while also addressing the common implicit biases which can be barriers to these approaches. The “Train-the- Trainer” curriculum was designed to enable officers from law enforcement agencies to gain knowledge and skills necessary to effectively teach the concepts of procedural justice and implicit bias to others within their departments, as well as to tailor the training to their specific agency needs and community history. Originally a two-day (16 hours) course, it has recently been expanded to three days (24 hours) to enhance the development of facilitative and instructional skills needed for these students to effectively teach the course.
There are currently five presenters certified to offer this 16-hour course. They are the CA Department of Justice, CSU Long Beach, No. California Regional Public Safety Training Authority, South Bay Regional Training Consortium, and Stockton Police Department. A total of 287 students have completed this course to date, which is an additional 66 instructors certified to teach this course since the previous report to the Commission in October.
Principled Policing Facilitators Assessment Workshops
This workshop is designed to support the Principled Policing - Train the Trainer course and is intended for instructors that will be delivering this course to agencies other than their own. The course emphasizes delivery of the material and builds on the content learned from the Principled Policing - Train the Trainer Course. The workshop enables attendees to further refine their ability, skill, and expertise in facilitating the nuances of the curriculum’s five modules. The Principled Policing - Train the Trainer course is a prerequisite for attending this workshop.
Principled Policing Mentor Program
As it is imperative to ensure the tenets of the Procedural Justice process are consistently and effectively taught by all law enforcement trainers, POST provides training mentors who are available for all agencies, upon request, to provide one-on-one coaching and mentoring to their Principled Policing instructors. The mentors consist of trainers from the Stockton and Oakland Police Departments, and other instructors who have been involved in the development of the Principled Policing course and currently facilitate the train the trainer course.
Stanford Principled Policing and Implicit Bias Toolkit
POST is finalizing a contract in the amount of $98,994 with Stanford University’s Social Psychological Answers to Real World Problems (SPARQ) to support the expansion and dissemination of their on-line Policing Racial Bias Toolkit. This “toolkit” provides Principled Policing course presenters with the necessary curriculum resources to improve the instructor’s ability to recognize, understand, and achieve the course goals and learning outcomes.
Principled Policing Videos
The “Did You Know? – Procedural Justice” video emphasizes the four tenets of Procedural Justice: Voice, Neutrality, Respect, and Trustworthiness. These tenets are modeled by the officer during a traffic stop and conversation with the driver of the stopped vehicle. This video is the recipient of two Emmy awards and, to date, has been viewed 14,246 times on the POST website and Learning Portal, with over 600 downloads from the Learning Portal alone (the POST website does not track download statistics). Those downloads are being utilized for independent agency viewing at briefings and other informal training. POST is finalizing work on another “Did You Know?” video that emphasizes how principled policing builds trust and increases law enforcement ability to serve in refugee communities.
Enhancing Principled Policing with Strategic Verbal Communication Skills
POST staff has begun work on the development of a Strategic Communication’s Guide for CA Peace Officers consistent with the tenets of procedural justice. These communication principles and techniques will support promoting voluntary compliance and professional interactions with others. POST will be reviewing how these strategic communication skills can be more effectively interwoven in other training curriculum from Basic Course academies and Field Training programs, to Perishable Skills training and Supervisory/Management Courses.
Principled Policing in the Basic Course Academy
POST has now held two workshops for the purpose of infusing principled policing concepts into the student workbooks for Basic Course academies. Participants included various academy presenters and agencies as well as representatives from organizations that represent vital community stakeholders such as the Museum of Tolerance, NAACP, ACLU, PICO California, and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). The most recent workshop modified the workbook for LD 20, Use of Force, to ensure consistency with the tenets of procedural justice.
Principled Policing in the Supervisory Course
POST is planning to hold a workshop sometime in the spring of 2018 to identify and develop necessary course changes and curriculum updates to fully integrate Principled Policing within the course. This workshop will model previous workshops held for the Basic Course academies and include participants from organizations that represent vital community stakeholders.
Principled Policing in the Executive Development Course (EDC)
The core tenets of procedural justices and principled policing are woven throughout the course and specifically detailed in two class sessions. One session, Contemporary Organizational Issues, is taught by Jackie Gomez-Whitely who is the former Chief of Police for the Cities of Cypress and Alhambra. She has been certified through the Principled Policing - Train the Trainer course. The other session, Ethics and Values, explores the subtopic “Fragility of Trust.” It is taught by Art Cribbs, a former television journalist, pastor and long-time EDC instructor.
Principled Policing as an Evaluative Component of Management Studies
POST consultants assigned to the Management Counseling, Leadership Development Bureau have begun using Principled Policing as an evaluative component for organizational management studies. External legitimacy between an agency and the community begins internally, with a commitment by leadership to adhere to the tenets of procedural justice within the organization. Agencies that model procedural justice in their interactions with their own employees; for example, during decisions about hiring, assignments to special divisions, and in promotions and discipline, reinforce the value of procedural justice in their employee’s engagement with the community. Internal legitimacy translates into external legitimacy. |