Police2Peace addresses the persistent sense of urgency to transform policing with new ‘peace officer’ training and certification.
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 28, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — While not new, this question seems more urgent now than ever today: How do we improve relations between the police and American communities, especially communities of color? In response, the 501 (c)(3) organization Police2Peace announced today its national ‘Peace Officer’ training platform and policing agency certification for ‘Peace Officers’. Through this virtual training platform called “Peace Officer: Realizing the True Purpose of Policing”, every policing agency in the nation can receive training and certification in the mental model of ‘peace officer’, where embracing the idea that what the police are doing may have unintended harmful consequences to the people they are paid to protect.
“Transforming our police, their relationships to the communities they serve and their approach to policing to embrace the idea of potential harm requires a change in police culture,” said Chief Jim Bueermann, a 40+ year veteran of policing, retired police chief and past president of the National Police Foundation, now called the National Policing Institute. “This course is about culture change, and Peace Officer is the mental model for reducing the harm possible in policing,” continued Bueermann.
Numerous other police industry initiatives have recently sought to address the need to transform policing from within, including the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives (NAWLEE) with its 30×30 initiative and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) with its Trust Building Campaign.
“The difference between these programs and the Peace Officer training system, is that every agency in the nation can immediately and simultaneously undertake the Peace Officer training online,” said Steve Hull, with LightSpeed VT, the technology provider which enabled the creation and launch of the interactive training. “It’s not just a course, it’s a training system which can reach all of policing with the same content, training, testing and certification. This is aimed at police culture change, which makes this unique.”
“By advancing Peace Officer as a mindset for the future of public safety, this course and its content are the undiscovered jewel of policing.”
Chief Jim Bueermann
The course is being given away free to all U.S. police leaders. Separate modules will soon be available for police officers, police union officials, elected and appointed officials and community members.
“What this means is that training is now available for all agencies so that policing works for everyone—the cops, the elected and appointed officials, and the community,” said Leon Lott, Sheriff of Richland County, S.C. “Without educating our communities and the police in how we co-produce public safety, nothing will ever change. We’re all for this type of training.”
Added Bueermann, “By advancing Peace Officer as a mindset for the future of public safety, this course and its content are the undiscovered jewel of policing.”
Police2Peace sees this new training and certification as a simple, nationally scalable way to change the approach and culture of policing for all police departments.
