If police trainers can examine—with an objective and critical eye—some of the suggestions made in the new Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) report on recruit training, a great deal of good can potentially come of it for officers, agencies, and the communities they serve.
The goal is two-fold: not only to recognize the most effective programs, but to share that information with others so that they may look at the potential benefits to their respective agency and drive the number of line-of-duty law enforcement deaths down to zero.
Niles, IL, Police Chief Luis Tigera has hired a social worker to help his officers handle the emotional challenges of law enforcement duty.
“We have counselors that have been trained in the unique needs of first responders’ children. I think they have this specific kind of life, and they deal with a certain kind of stress. And so that's what we're here to address in that particular program,” Crane explains.
The ABLE Project is the result of a partnership between the Center for Innovations in Community Safety (CICS, formerly the Innovative Policing Program) at the Georgetown University Law Center and the global law firm Sheppard Mullin LLP.
It has become abundantly clear that agencies must now become more proactive about providing the tools for officers to recognize, respond to, and recover from the harmful impact of their exposure to traumatic events.
“A resilient officer is someone who can bounce back from a really difficult experience, someone who can both not only mentally but also physically bounce back. We've spent energy and effort on physical resiliency, but we really do need to spend effort on emotional and mental resiliency,” Prohaska says.
Empathy in law enforcement is now a thing. But the word "empathy" is sometimes used in the law enforcement context somewhat incorrectly—or at least incompletely—and can have negative consequences for officers.
“This is a testament to the State of Georgia for their commitment to the mental wellness of our first responders and I think that this is unique across the country with everything that you see about the police and defunding the police. Here in Georgia, we are actually investing in the wellbeing of our officers,” says Wes Horne, director..
Graham Tinius, training coordinator of the National Association of Field Training Officers, talks about how Mother Theresa's philosophy of just help one works for police.
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