As a result of the recent barrage of tragedies which have claimed the lives of too many young Black men, communities across the country have turned a very critical eye to police departments throughout the nation. Shock, confusion, and anger run rampant in the hearts and minds of family members, friends, and distant neighbors who don’t understand how so much pain is being inflicted by the very people who they have employed to protect them.
Acknowledging that the relationship between people of color and law enforcement has always been strained at best, some law enforcement departments have attempted to ramp up community outreach to remind us of something they probably never imagined they would need to: That they aren’t the bad guys.
Last week, I was invited by the Los Angeles Police Department to attend a class focused on the latest headlining controversy “use of force.” I was told that it would be three hours long … on a Tuesday evening … and that I would need to be an active participant in the demonstration despite already being exhausted from a full day’s work.
I will admit initially I was not excited to attend. Listening to police officers ramble on for three hours about why I shouldn’t be just as pissed with them as the rest of the nation, did not sound like how I wanted to spend my evening. But duty called.
The meeting, held at the LAPD Ahmanson Recruit Training Center in Westchester and orchestrated by Senior Tactical Instructor Officer Joseph Johnson, and community relations liaison, Sgt. Mark Durrell, was the brainchild of the officers who were joined by Nason Buchanan of the mayor’s G.R.Y.D. (Gang Reduction Youth Development) program and Stinson Brown of the Criminal Gang Homicide Division, created as they were having breakfast one morning at Pann’s Diner is Ladera Heights.
Taking the call from Chief Charlie Beck to heart for more transparency in the department, the group came up with the idea for the training course and pitched it to LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Green.
“He was immediately on board with it,” said Johnson. “He really loves South Los Angeles and the people, and he just doesn’t tolerate officers mistreating people at all. He is one of the best bosses I’ve ever had. Community trust is really important to him.”
Chief Green was clearly a champion of transparency and had the utmost faith in his department, supporting more audio/visual equipment in patrol cars, and body cameras which have stirred some controversy. “I believe it will serve to improve community trust, and with these measures in place, officers will be found to have acted justly 95 percent of the time,” said Green confidently. “Some officers are hesistant because it’s a culture change; the way you speak, the language you use may be different in this neighborhood than in Beverly Hills. It’s just about making that change.”
The class began on a heartfelt note as attendees took a few quiet moments to look over a monument built in front of the training center in honor of 203 officers killed in the line of duty. “I start my courses with a walk around that monument, because I don’t want people to forget,” said Johnson. “These people died serving the city of Los Angeles; and the monument is offering those souls back to God.”
“We are not superheroes. We are not trained assassins.”
Anyone who has watched news coverage of an officer-involved shooting, specifically if the suspect in the case ends up dead, and especially if that person was unarmed, the officer immediately comes under extreme criticism and scrutiny. “Why didn’t they just shoot him in the arms or legs?” “Why didn’t they use a Taser?” “Why wasn’t the officer better trained to handle the situation?” “Why?”
They seem like logical enough questions that even I have asked the television set plenty of times. But what if you weren’t yelling from the comfort of that Lazy Boy in your living room? What if the gun was on your hip and you had to make the decision on how to handle this potentially life-threatening situation?
I know what you’re thinking. Police officers are trained to know better, shoot straighter, run faster, and fight more fearlessly than we are, and should therefore be experts at handling these matters.
But are they really? An average of six months of training, though grueling I’m sure, doesn’t make these men and women infallible. It doesn’t give them superhuman strength or blind bravery; they are simply better educated and better prepared for certain situations.
“We are you,” said Johnson. “We are just like you.”
The training served to educate the community on a small portion of police policy that has a big impact on the way these controversial issues are perceived by the public. We were given example after example of real life situations these officers have encountered, watched altercations caught on dash camera video, and had to determine the best way to handle them based on department policy. It became clear that the “obvious” choice wasn’t always so obvious.
LAPD Use of Deadly Force policy states that it can be used to protect yourself or another’s life, prevent a crime where there is an imminent threat of serious bodily injury or death, and to prevent the escape of a fleeing felon. “I don’t teach when you should shoot, I only teach when it’s legal to shoot,” said Johnson.
As part of the class, all attendees were paired up and equipped with a gun, a Taser and OC (pepper) spray (all inactive) and were asked to participate in a simulated exercise which required us to respond to a crime in progress based on the knowledge we had gained in the course.
Surprisingly, even after all of the criticism we threw at the officers regarding use of force, every pairing used lethal force to solve the problem at hand.
In my simulation, I walked into a convenience store while a robbery was in progress. The assailant had a gun pointed in the face of a terrified clerk and as soon I was given the green light to begin, I shot him . . . five times (granted, I missed all five times and the successful shot was landed by my partner, but the sentiment was surely there).
D.O.A.
A key lesson we learned in the class was D.O.A.—Desire. Opportunity. Ability. The theory states that when all three circumstances meet, the likelihood of death or serious bodily injury to those involved increases.
For example: If a person wants to kill you, that’s the desire. If they have a gun, that gives them the ability. In that sense, it is up to you to take away their opportunity to act on it.
During debriefing, Officer Johnson asked me why I shot the suspect. Throughout the course I was the most vocal advocate of non-violent conflict resolution and yet I didn’t hesitate to take lethal force.
My answer was simple: “If I didn’t stop him, he would have killed her.” He had the desire and the ability; I couldn’t give him the opportunity.
“Opportunity starts when force becomes legal,” said Johnson. “I want to reach as many people as humanly possible with this course. It’s not about changing anyone’s mind. It was just to provide a little bit of education. There are some people in the community who just want to rile everyone up, and there are some who realize that sometimes, it is just a matter of educating people.”
The course seemed to be relatively enlightening for those in attendance. What was most appreciated was the fact that the officers never attempted to skirt responsibility for the instances where they were wrong, and that they welcomed being held to a high standard. It’s on the community not to hold them to an unreasonable one; to remember that they too make mistakes, get scared; that they are human.
Additional classes will be held in the near future to continue to get the word out to the public.
“We are reaching out to the media, church pastors, community leaders…folks in and from the area who have a voice,” said Johnson. “A voice to reach out and share the experience with those who would otherwise never be exposed to the department from a different perspective.”
For more information email Sgt. Durrell at 25706@LAPD.LAcity.org.
