{"id":174893,"date":"2016-08-09T12:28:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T18:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=174893"},"modified":"2016-08-10T09:38:09","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T15:38:09","slug":"police-use-of-force-training-sparks-discussion-builds-understanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/08\/police-use-of-force-training-sparks-discussion-builds-understanding\/","title":{"rendered":"Police use-of-force training sparks discussion, builds understanding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>The list of priorities police officers should consider in a tactical situation seemed fairly logical: Hostages came first. Then other civilians. Law enforcement came next, followed by the \u201csuspect\/subject.\u201d Last was property.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_55852\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-55852\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-336x222.jpg\" alt=\"Heath Haussamen\" width=\"336\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-336x222.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-771x510.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1-1170x773.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Haussamen-Heath1.jpg 1262w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n<p>While discussing those priorities, Major Brent Barlow referred to \u201csuspects\u201d as \u201ccriminals.\u201d And people interrupted, for the umpteenth time, the use-of-force training being taught by Barlow and Detective Larry Louick of the Do\u00f1a Ana County Sheriff\u2019s Department on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think you realized that you just did it,\u201d state Rep. Bill McCamley said, \u201cbut you said \u2018criminal\u2019 and you pointed to \u2018suspect.\u2019\u201d People wanted to know: What if the person was doing nothing wrong?<\/p>\n<p>He would be the same priority on the chart either way, the officers replied.<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t the point people were trying to make. Barlow asked for help understanding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we\u2019re saying the suspect is already a criminal then there\u2019s no hope for me,\u201d said Timothy Nelson, who works for the YWCA in El Paso and was the one black man in the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not just semantics. It\u2019s power. Language is power. The way that we talk about things then influences our actions later,\u201d said Sara Melton, who works for the community organizing group Comunidades en Acci\u00f3n y de F\u00e9 (CAF\u00e9).<\/p>\n<p>Louick said he was glad people raised their concerns. He and Barlow were more sensitive after that about the language they used to describe the people police encounter.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>Watch<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rhl_teUa7fo?rel=0\" width=\"309\" height=\"174\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Detective Larry Louick, right, and Major Brent Barlow talk about whether they consider race and the perspectives of the citizens they encounter during traffic stops. The discussion came during a training on law enforcement use of force put on by the Do\u00f1a Ana County Sheriff&#8217;s Department on Aug. 5, 2016. You can also watch <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Rhl_teUa7fo\" target=\"_blank\">on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The day was mentally and emotionally exhausting. The officers filled our heads with information about the law and their training. They showed us graphic videos that often ended with civilians or police officers dying. I gained a better understanding of the difficult job police officers do. Some others who took the course told me they learned a lot too.<\/p>\n<p>There were many difficult moments when people pushed back. There were emotional outbursts and tears. We didn\u2019t always find common ground. We didn\u2019t figure out how to reduce crime, officer-involved shootings, or attacks on police officers. We didn\u2019t come up with ways to eradicate systemic racism or poverty.<\/p>\n<p>But the conversation mattered. We listened and worked to understand each other. I don\u2019t believe we can improve society without building such bridges.<\/p>\n<p>We must improve. Our police officers are on the front lines against the societal ills we have failed to address on a systemic level. \u201cI\u2019ve done plenty of social work as a cop,\u201d Barlow told us.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s often dangerous for the officers and the people they encounter. Thrown into sometimes impossible situations, good police officers do the best they can. But they\u2019re asked to do too much.<\/p>\n<p>We need to commit to having the difficult conversations that will help us move forward.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>One bright spot from the training was the agreement we found about the importance of citizens filming police. While Louick and Barlow cautioned that a video doesn\u2019t always tell the whole story \u2013 it\u2019s a piece of evidence that must be considered in context \u2013 both support people making recordings. \u201cFilm us all day long,\u201d Louick said.<\/p>\n<p>Some film to protect people from cops. Louick and Barlow said it also protects police from false allegations. Before police agencies were using vehicle or body cameras, Barlow used a personal audio recorder to document his encounters with people.<\/p>\n<p>Barlow is retiring this month. I hope Louick is able to continue these trainings. Every law enforcement agency should engage citizens in these difficult, informative, and relationship-building discussions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every law enforcement agency should engage citizens in these difficult, informative, and relationship-building conversations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[142,115,2109,203,143],"class_list":["post-174893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-crime","tag-dona-ana-county","tag-guns","tag-law-enforcement","tag-race-and-ethnicity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}