Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MARCH 2016 31 can hear directly what’s going on. There’s a Citi- zens Police Academy where people can see first hand the complexities of the work and the enormous amount of training that’s required to do the job well. A Citizens’ Advisory Council (CAC) was estab- lished in 2015 to work with the police department to help identify ways to im- prove community-police relations. Many of the Police De- partment’s annual reports are posted online including an annual internal affairs report, a five-year strategic plan and the agency’s year- end report. Columbia officers now provide “business cards” to individuals with whom they interact. The cards contain an offi- cer’s name and badge num- ber and provide a mecha- nism for citizens to share information about their in- teractions with officers. Suggestions in the report for better training are nu- merous and the Columbia P.D. is working on most of them. Officers learn about conflict resolution and de- escalation tactics and both classroom instruction and role-playing exercises are designed to strengthen ne- gotiations skills. “Our community is ex- tremely diverse,” Holbrook says. “Forty-five percent of the community is minor- ity and minority officers comprise 31 percent of the force. Two years ago we only processed 84 applications for people seeking a job with the Columbia P.D. This past year there were over 1200. We are very proud of that. “We are seeing results and the training is helping. Our latest figures show over 168,000 citizen encounters and 7,000 arrests, with only 108 use of force incidents and officers discharged their weapons 3 times. The agen- cy participates in a critical incident debriefing program called LEAP – a law enforce- ment assistance program. “The program has worked to help officers to recover emotionally after a critical incident. “Recently one of our of- ficers was killed in an auto accident while responding to a shots fired call,” the chief said. “The crash was horrific and the officers who responded were affected. We used LEAP to bring to- gether friends and family of fallen officers and others to share their stories with our officers and talk about the healing process. Over 50 people attended.” The Department has been out in front on other officer wellness programs too. The agency buys memberships for their officers to local gyms and has hired a trainer to work with any officer who wants to get in better shape. “One officer has lost 45 pounds,” Holbrook says. “His story has been conta- gious and others are follow- ing.” “I strongly urge my fel- low chiefs and anyone who works on policy issues in their agency to read the Task Force report and start working with their elected officials and community members to implement the recommendations. “The whole thing is a win- win – a win for law enforce- ment leadership, a win for the officers and most of all a win for the community.” Cynthia Brown is the pub- lisher of American Police Beat. it’s a win, win, win! Get your plan together Check out the recommendations and get a plan together for your agency. Go to: http://www.cops. usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf or Google: President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Final Report. To read the Columbia Police Dept.’s Implementation Plan in its entirety and learn more about the innovative programs they have initi- ated, visit their website at http://www.columbiapd.net/ or Google: Columbia SC Police Department. , , Making changes is paying off. The Columbia P.D. is rapidly becoming the leading model for agencies who want to make important changes on a variety of fronts. Everything is on the table – training in negotiations and de-escalation tactics, better officer wellness and safety programs, more help for officers who go through a critical incident, and an intense community policing program. Above, Chief Skip Holbrook takes a shift at the Department’s ice cream truck that was busy all summer handing out treats to children at the city’s housing projects. P.R.I.D.E. Protection | Respect | Integrity | Dedication | Excellence Heroes Wanted. Apply Now. PRIDE “PRIDE starts with the badge” Learn how you can earn yours at: Phoenix.gov/police Now accepting applications for both recruits and lateral transfers!