The “Building Mutual Respect and Community Trust” Program was launched in 2015 in response to a number of requests from Police Chiefs in the Greater Cleveland area seeking assistance in the aftermath of the Tamir Rice verdict. The initial pilot training program was launched in 2016 and to date over a 1,500 police officers have participated in the training.
Training Components
Key components of the training include a focus on experiential learning. Participants engage in dialogues and other exercises that stress the importance of understanding: the dynamic between police and community members, unconscious bias, power hierarchies, and comprehending and working with resistances. As one officer stated upon
completion of the training, “We are reminded this is a people job”. In addition, the program focuses on the officer’s daily interactions with the community. It is designed to build the officer’s awareness on how their behavior controls the vast majority of interactions they have with the community. The program is also designed to build the officer’s awareness of
their own personal biases: both recognizing and managing them. Emphasizing none of us is color blind. We all notice race, gender and other demographics. It’s normal to notice these differences, we teach them to appreciate the importance of slowing down tendencies to form judgments based solely on these characteristics.
Community Listening Session
Before a pilot training for officers was facilitated, the training group invited the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Organization of Chinese Americans Cleveland Chapter, OpenNEO, The LGBT Center, and a faculty expert in social work and health of African American males from Case Western Reserve University to a community listening session, during which they were lead through an abbreviated version of the training. The community groups offered their thoughts and feedback, which were immediately incorporated into the training. At this point, many of the individuals who participated offered letters of support.