Letter

Minneapolis police need to change how officers are trained

Posted

I recently took part in the 15-week Minneapolis Police Academy, and I believe the department has not done enough to change the culture of the officers. I did not want to join the police department, but was persuaded by Chief Arradondo that the department was gutted of the old and now revamped. Recent changes such as not teaching chokeholds or duty-to-intervene training was a start; however, we were thrown into many training scenarios that put officers into positions that make us feel unsafe talking to the citizens, putting our minority residents in more harm.
While we were trying to learn the ropes of being an officer, we were thrown into active shooter training. We were also thrown into a room with strobe lights and death metal music with an individual attacking us with knives, guns, or unarmed. While our profession is a “What if” scenario, these approaches to developing quality officers is ridiculous. Our trainers submitted us to the worst-case outcome, thinking it would train us into better officers, but in reality, it develops officers for swat duty.
While I had some world-class trainers, I also met some trainers who were verbally abusive, and were no help in developing my career path. My vision for training future Minneapolis Police Officers would be spending more time out in our community such as mentoring at recreation centers or developing relationships. Why would anyone want to work for the Minneapolis police?
Cage Jones, St. Paul

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