Chicago Police Report Vows More Training For Officers
CHICAGO (CBS) - The Chicago Police Department is promising better training for officers to respond to emergency calls for people with acute mental health problems, more supervision, and more mental health services for the officers themselves to make sure they are able to do their jobs. These were made public today in a report outlining the Chicago Police Department's plans for reform this year.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson outlined the next steps for reform, but failed to say whether 19-year-old Quintonio Legrier, killed by police in a controversial 2015 shooting, might still be alive if some of the proposed reforms were in place earlier.
"This year, we'll ensure every officer in the department receives force mitigation training, which is at the heart of our new use of force police," explains Johnson.
At a community breakfast in East Garfield Park, Johnson said every officer in the department will be trained this year in a new use-of-force policy which emphasizes de-escalation measures to defuse confrontations. Johnson wouldn't' say whether those tactics should have been used with Legrier, who was killed by Officer Robert Rialmo. Rialmo says Legrier swung a baseball bat at him.
"If we're dispatched a call and mental health is identified in the way that call is dispatched, then we'll look for crisis intervention officers to respond to that call. If it's not given out that way, the officer won't be able to tell until he actually gets on the scene," Johnson says. "The incidents that happened prior to us rolling out the new use of force policy have to be governed by the policy that was in place then," he continued, " I think its fair to everybody involved in those incidents to just leave it at that."
Johnson ruled Legrier's shooting was justified, but COPA said it was not. Since the two haven't reached an agreement, the police board will now decide whether Rialmo will be fired.
Johnson says the Chicago Police Department also plans to expand the number of crisis intervention officers, trained in handling people experiencing a mental health crisis, as well as training dispatchers to recognize when 9-1-1 calls include a mental health component.
The report promises more instructors and far more continuing training throughout officers' careers.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
