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Charlotte Amalie
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesSTOP POLICE-CIVILIAN CONFLICT WITH TRAINING

STOP POLICE-CIVILIAN CONFLICT WITH TRAINING

I am a local living in Houston, Tex. I am a licensed Texas peace officer working as a Harris County Sheriff's deputy. I am currently a candidate for sheriff here in Texas. I have also served as a police chief in a small town.
I am a licensed Texas police instructor. I am also the author of a police training manual that has been approved for academy use by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Education.
I have read the Source stories of the officer-civilian confrontations on [all three] islands. While I am not in a position to make a pro- or against-actions statement, I can offer a solution to the apparent escalation of controversy between the locals and non-locals.
The situation there in the territory is hard to justify. It is especially hard when you look at what caused the incidents to spiral out of control.
Texas has the same problems that you have. We have had officers killing people. Officers shooting people. Officers framing people. We have had cases of racial profiling and racial complaints resulting in civil rights violations.
As a matter of fact, there is a law in Texas addressing "Official Oppression." This law simply states that any person in official authority who use his or her position to intimidate or oppress a civilian goes to jail. If the person is a police officer or elected official, he or she gets charged with a felony.
The bottom line here is that officers often need to be re-educated. Our island society is one where -– right or wrong — the majority rules. The first step to solving and preventing these problems in the future is to re-evaluate the situation and design a program of learning for the officers.
But the officers on the street must not be the only ones attending these classes. We must remember that sludge rolls downhill. Attitudes on the bottom sometimes begin at the top. I am not saying it is the case, but it is found many times to be.
The State of Texas had to come to grips with the issue of cultural diversity. It is no longer the norm to beat a homosexual, black or Hispanic or anyone not from Texas.
We had a case where a sergeant and another officer patrolling a homosexual district in their squad car. They saw a lone man, evidently a homosexual, and decided to harass him. It got to the point where they ended up beating this man to death. It turned out that their victim was an undercover Houston police officer whose unit was investigating hate crimes against homosexuals by civilians.
Adding to the irony of this case, it came out during the murder trial that the officer with the sergeant was a latent homosexual. He came out of the closet during the trial. He –- and this is important — stated that he went along with the sergeant because he wanted to fit in.
This is the problem with many officers. We tend to not want to ruffle feathers. When I was a street officer, I would tell my rider that if he/she was dirty, I would spill the beans. I would tell them not to do anything around me they did not want repeated. I spent nine months in the academy and I was not going to lose it over their stupidity.
Texas has mandated that all Texas peace officers must take cultural diversity courses once every two years. This has drastically cut down on officers assaulting the public. Perhaps something like this instituted in the islands would help cut down on the negative police-public interactions. It is worth looking into.
I would be willing to take a leave at the request of the V.I.Police Department and come and teach a class. I have conducted over 5,000 hours of in-service education and trained over 4,000 officers. The course I am offering is only 4 to 8 hours long. But it will change a lot the negative happenings in the Police Department.
I am very proud to have been a benefactor of VIPD Police Pre-Cadets training. I have learned a lot since I have been here. I am just trying to give something back to my community. Please click http://www.utexas.edu/cee/dec/tcleose/cultdiv/study.html for more information.

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