Police look into changing training protocol for officers

Law enforcement analysts are calling for a change in the way police are trained.

Some said “community policing” could be the way to solve some problems between police and the people they’re protecting.

Charlie Jackson, the former Director of Public Safety in Missouri, said incidents like the one in McKinney Texas have been happening since he was an officer back in the 60’s.

The only difference is now there are readily available cameras and social networking that make it easier to share those videos quicker.

He also said community policing is a big step in making sure the types of incidents, like the one in McKinney Texas don’t happen.

Several national reports said there needs to be a change in the way police are trained. However Charlie Jackson feels a different way.

“We need to get back to community policing. Not everybody’s out there to hurt you and I think sometimes that’s the prevailing attitude in some of the training that we get,” said Jackson.

Jackson said he thinks if police have a closer relationship with the community, bad things are less likely to happen.

He also said things like we have seen recently, like the police officer in South Carolina who shot a man running away from him have been happening since he was starting out as an officer, nearly fifty years ago.

“Unbeknownst to them there was someone watching the whole thing and filming it. Social media is what brought it to light. It wasn’t the way they said it was,” said Jackson.

Police agencies have been reporting they are not only looking into changing the way they train their officers, but also the way they recruit and supervise.