Law Enforcement Equity Training
We believe it’s possible to prevent police shootings like the one that killed Oscar.
But we also know that most of the training that police officers go through doesn’t go far enough when it comes to dealing with people of color.
Our Law Enforcement Equity Training takes it a step further by showing the police how to see the humanity in our young Black men more effectively.
Building on the wisdom and experiences of our CEO, Rev. Wanda Johnson—as well as the expertise of several of our board members—we have built a program that emphasizes the power of forgiveness and emotional healing.
Our overall goal is to improve police behavior by showing officers the value in defusing conflicts, identifying mental illness and understanding nonverbal communication, among other things. The end result: Police officers have the unique opportunity to be someone’s hero and the youth in our community have their humanity restored.
See how else you can support our equity training program
See how else you can support our equity training program
Learn More About Our Approach
In order to understand how to create better relationships between the police and communities of color, we have to understand the origins of modern-day policing, which was historically used to enforce racial segregation.
It began with slave patrols in the early 1700s, which were established to suppress slave rebellions and return runaways to their owners. For decades leading up the Civil Rights Movement, police officers were often accused of using excessive force against Black people. This led to the creation of the Kerner Commission, which issued a report in 1968 that found widespread racial discrimination in law enforcement.
Once we can all recognize that law enforcement is an institution that has historically reinforced inequality in the justice system and resisted advancements in the field, only then can we make true progress.
We’re not interested in laying blame, though. By sharing stories from people of color who support the police and by working with police departments to shift their focus from implicit bias to community policing, we believe progress can be made.