De-escalation training for police
Good Morning, I’m Annica Colbert….it’s Wednesday, December 15th
How police de-escalation training is panning out
More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….######
Mask mandates will go into effect TODAY for everyone in California, regardless of vaccination status. A 47% jump in the covid case rate and a more contagious variant forced the state’s health secretary to reinstate the mandate for indoors..
while most health professionals say they saw this coming, Shannon kirby, who owns and operates signa digital solutions, says it’s confusing and it puts him and his 29 employees - all who are fully vaccinated - in a tough spot
“it’s just adding another layer of slowing our business down to accommodate a mask requirement so it’s very disappointing.”
The mandate will go through January 15th of next year.
########
Meanwhile, San Diego county public health officials reported more than 600 new covid-19 infections on Tuesday and four additional deaths. Tuesday marked one year since the county got its first shipments of covid-19 vaccines. As of Monday about 86% of eligible San Diego county residents have had at least one dose of covid-19 vaccine, and about 77% are fully vaccinated.
########
A superior court judge in Los Angeles has denied a request by two parent groups for a preliminary injunction against a covid-19 vaccine mandate at the Los Angeles Unified School district. The judge wrote in a final ruling that the harm to health and safety of allowing unvaccinated students on campus outweighs the shortcomings of remote learning.
#########
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
Two years ago, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan introduced a new training program for local police departments aimed at reducing police shootings countywide. KPBS investigative reporter Claire Trageser says while some departments have trained more of their officers than others, there is hope it has sparked the beginning of a culture change.
A warning, this story contains graphic descriptions and sounds.
In January 2020, two San Diego Police Department officers saw 31-year-old Toby Diller walking on 54th Street in Oak Park with an open container. When they pulled their SUV over and Diller started running away.
The officers jumped out of the SUV and chased him, yelling “Stop, stop!” They caught up to him and tackled him. Then one of the officers shouted that Diller had grabbed his gun. Upon hearing that, Officer Devion Johnson shot Diller in the head, killing him instantly.
Johnson’s approach and steps leading up to the shooting almost certainly would go against the teachings in a countywide de-escalation training program that had started the year before.
Summer Stephan
District Attorney
“So slow down, assess the situation, are there weapons involved and what are your capabilities that can de-escalate?
The eight-hour training course teaches officers to avoid situations that lead to shootings, says District Attorney Summer Stephan, who created the training.
“We know not everything can be slowed down because you are dealing with an immediate, imminent threat. What we're talking about is the things that I see on body one camera where you can see that things could be slowed down.”
It’s too soon to tell whether any of the training is having an impact on the number of officers countywide who shoot suspects. But Stephan says..
“In cases where the individual is not armed or is not armed in a way that is going to cause serious bodily injury, if we are seeing a different interaction and less lethal force used, that would be a win.”
As of this month, more than 3,000 officers across 19 departments have taken the course.
The glaring exception is the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. None of the department’s 2,600 sworn deputies have taken the DA’s training.
Instead, Sheriff’s deputies completed a separate training that is just 14 minutes and 28 seconds long. The department has also updated its existing 8-hour training courses on strategic communication and de-escalation, but so far, just 500 deputies have been through that training.
Travis Norton, a use of force expert and trainer, says the length and intensity of the training matter.
Travis Norton
Police Trainer
“is not going to give you what an eight hour day where you're interacting with an instructor, you're doing decision-making exercises, you're actually having to work through problems that you could encounter out in the field to help create that artificial experience.”
Sheriff’s Department officials wouldn’t agree to an interview for this story.
This is a far cry from the situation in up the coast in Berkeley, where the Police Department has been offering 8 hours of hands-on de-escalation training since 2016. Berkeley Police Lt. Joe Okies helped design it.
Lt. Joe Okies
Berkeley Police
“We incorporate de-escalation into all our use of force training, so it’s reinforced there.”
The hope is de-escalation training could become like body worn cameras, which officers resisted at first but now embrace because of the accountability it brings to their jobs. So says Darwin Fishman, a leader of Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego.
Darwin Fishman
Racial Justice Coalition of San Diego
“It actually strengthens the police force, it strengthens the community police relationships, it really has a better impact on crime, and it creates a more healthy community.”
He and other activists say these small steps are important, but a far larger driver of change comes from the community.
And that was KPBS investigative reporter Claire Traegeser. To see more of our reporting on police, go to kpbs dot org slash police records.
#######
Former county jail detainee Mark Armendo died unexpectedly last year in jail, sparking ongoing controversy. inewsource investigative reporter Jill Castellano has the latest developments on this case.
CASTELLANO: Mark Armendo’s family has insisted the 34-year-old contracted COVID-19 in county jail, leading to his death.
CASTELLANO: The sheriff’s department has denied those claims, saying Armendo did not contract the virus while in custody.
CASTELLANO: But a new forensic report by the county medical examiner contradicts the sheriff’s office.
CASTELLANO: It shows Armendo tested positive for the virus on June 19th, 2020 — the day he was found unresponsive in his cell. “Apparent COVID-19 infection” was added as a contributing factor in his death.
CASTELLANO: The sheriff’s office would not comment because of an ongoing lawsuit by Armendo’s family.
INEWSOURCE IS AN INDEPENDENTLY FUNDED NONPROFIT PARTNER OF KPBS.
##########
San Diego's plans to revitalize the midway district have hit another roadblock.
kpbs metro reporter andrew bowen says a judge has blocked the city from allowing taller buildings in the neighborhood.
AB: Last year, voters approved a ballot measure that would exempt Midway from the city's 30-foot coastal height limit. But a group called Save Our Access sued the city, arguing it should have studied the environmental impacts of taller buildings before placing the measure on the ballot. Judge Katherine Bacal agreed, and blocked the city from implementing the measure. Mayor Todd Gloria says the city will appeal.
TG: We'll fight, and we'll fight like hell. The revitalization of the Midway District is critical to the future of our city. Not just for a new sports venues but again for the provision of housing that is attainable to low- and middle-income San Diegans.
AB: Officials are evaluating five proposals to redevelop the city-owned Sports Arena property. All those plans would depend on building taller than 30 feet. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
##########
California has made progress toward hitting the state’s aggressive climate goals, but that progress may not be happening fast enough.
KPBS environment reporter Erik Anderson has more on the latest green innovation index.
The index is put together by the non-partisan group Next 10 and Beacon Economics. It finds that California is making progress reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but those reductions aren’t coming fast enough to stay on track to meet climate goals. Next 10’s founder Noel Perry remains optimistic.
“We are one of the most innovative states, not only in America but in the world. We have the tools to be successful to reduce these emissions.”
Beacon Economics researcher Patrick Adler also says wildfire presents a unique problem. The fires are larger and happen more often in California because of climate change, and state officials do not track the emissions produced.
“It’s possible for wildfire emissions to exceed emissions from other sources.”
Adler says, however, that the state has a robust clean energy job market and that bodes well for the state’s economic recovery and emission reduction strategies.
Erik Anderson KPBS News
##########
Coming up.... Fly fishing has become a way to lead troops and veterans into healing and dealing with traumatic stress.
“To catch that fish was almost like to hold on to my struggle. They introduced me to the concept out here of catch and release. And once I caught that fish — once I caught that struggle and released it — it was a very emotional moment for me.”
We’ll have more on that next, just after the break.
Around the country, groups are teaching troops and veterans to fly fish. It’s part of a therapy to help them deal with post-traumatic stress. There’s not much research on the benefits, but some in the military community say it helps them heal.
From Bozeman, Montana, Andrew Schwartz reports for The American Homefront Project.
A sunny day in 2017. Luke Cureton was on a lake in Montana.
He’d been medically retired from the military – a roadside bomb injured him during his second tour in Iraq, he says. He’d been struggling with PTSD. That’s part of the reason he was here, fly fishing. He cast an imitation-fly, tried to make it look appetizing. Then he got a bite.
[Luke Cureton]: To catch that fish was almost like to hold on to my struggle. They introduced me to the concept out here of catch and release. And once I caught that fish — once I caught that struggle and released it — it was a very emotional moment for me. From that point on, I was hooked on fly fishing.
Cureton was here at the invitation of Warriors and Quiet Waters. The Bozeman-based nonprofit brings post 9/11 combat veterans out to Montana. Here, they get an immersive fly-fishing experience in the company of family and fellow vets.
It’s one of many organizations that brings military community members together for recreational therapy. Some participants say the experience changed their life.
The first thing to know about fly fishing is that it’s hard.
[Larry Weidinger]: I go to pick up my rod, I tied it off all wrong.
That’s Larry Weidinger, a veteran, describing an early experience getting tangled up in knots.
The second thing to know about fly fishing is that it can be calming, grounding, sometimes even profound.
[Sean Gifford]: Every time the line hits the water, it's like a perpetual feeling of hope.
That’s Sean Gifford, also a veteran.
[Gifford]: You get to learn the entomology, and you see how everything is connected in an ecosystem. And you're just one part of it.
Another organization, Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, reported thousands of participants in 2020. Dozens of VA and Military healthcare facilities host the group, and it partners with volunteers all over the country. It says fly fishing is becoming more popular each year.
But research on the therapeutic value of these programs is still pretty sparse. When Dr. Justin Baker was a navy psychologist, patients would sometimes ask to be referred to a recreational therapy program. He’d say:
[Justin Baker]: Yeah, go for it. It's not going to hurt.
Today, Baker is a clinical psychologist at the Suicide and Trauma Reduction Initiative for Veterans, at Ohio State University. In part, he studies how to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
In sessions with patients, he targets “stuck points" — beliefs about a traumatic event that makes it hard to grieve, to move on with life.
[Baker] It's not that, ‘had I done something different, my buddy wouldn't have died. I did everything I could do, and my buddy still died.’
Baker generally practices targeted clinical therapies – “gold standard” treatments with names like cognitive processing therapy.
But he’s studied alternative treatments too.
[Baker]: The evidence doesn't seem to stack up that these alternative treatments are better than the gold standard. We still haven't surpassed that, but it doesn't mean that the alternative treatments aren't helpful.
He says mindfulness – the kind you might get from fly fishing – can be important to the healing process. Especially for those less inclined toward traditional treatment.
[Baker]: There’s enough trauma to go around that all of us need to be helping. Right? We’re all playing our role.
Sound of many fly lines being simultaneously cast into a pond.
Here on the Warriors and Quiet Waters ranch outside of Bozeman, people cast fly lines into a pond. Many are veterans. Smoky day. Western Wildfires.
[Director]: All right, cool, let's cut for a second. OK, that's a cut.
It’s a movie shoot. An indie film called “Mending the Line,” about a young marine who gets injured in Afghanistan, loses two men, and is wracked with guilt. Fly fishing helps.
Warriors and Quiet Waters loaned out its ranch for the shoot. Luke Cureton – the Iraq veteran – is on set. But he hates the main character, Colter, who reminds him of himself.
[Cureton]: Colter carries on a lot of guilt from his prior experience in combat, and he's carrying that over into the real world. And he feels as if he doesn't deserve to be living at this point in time… That's a struggle that I feel.
In the film Colter, the character, ends up working at Warriors and Quiet Waters. That's like Cureton, also. Now he volunteers, accompanying fellow vets fly-fishing. He said watching other people go through the program — that’s helped him heal too.
That was Andrew Schwartz reporting from Bozeman, Montana. This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans. Funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
That’s it for the podcast today. Be sure to catch KPBS Midday Edition At Noon on KPBS radio, or check out the Midday podcast. You can also watch KPBS Evening Edition at 5 O’clock on KPBS Television, and as always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Annica Colbert. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
