Train police differently to keep us all safe
This article was published on April 1, 2021 in the Napa Valley Register. See the response here.
One year ago on April 24, 2020, Brandan Nylander was shot and killed by a Napa Sheriff Deputy. After allegedly stealing ammunition from a Walmart in Napa, Brandan led police on a three-minute car chase before ending up at a blocked access road near the Napa County Airport. He was shot and killed after emerging from his car. He was 27 years old. In mid-March 2021, his family sued the county and the deputy involved in the shooting for excessive force, battery, negligence, and failure to properly train law enforcement officers.
Amid their grief and despair, the family is seeking damages not only for the action of the officer on the scene, but against the county for failing to train its officers effectively. This is a grim reminder that this is not a one-off incident, but rather, something that could happen to any of us who have the misfortune of committing a crime and encountering police. It’s a canary in a coal mine of growing distrust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
While most people enter law enforcement because they want to help others, they are increasingly met with distrust, disgust, and hostility from the very people they seek to protect. Stories like Brandon’s and so many like it have created a deep distrust and fear of police in many communities and make it hard for the public to see police as the “good guys.” We are raising a generation that doesn’t feel safe calling the police for help. All those in need of help should be running towards police, an increasing number of us running away from them as a primary source of fear.
Our law enforcement officers are a pillar of our community and deserve a position of authority and respect. However, if we don’t train our law enforcement differently, we will keep seeing these terrible outcomes. In most academies, police are trained to subdue a violent attacker in dozens of ways. However, this training creates a mindset that every interaction with the public is potentially deadly, and that danger lurks around every corner. While these skills are intended to save an officer’s life, the ability to prevent a tense situation from escalating into a violent encounter is also a life-saving skill. In fact, it is the most important life saving skill.
Tactical training must be complemented with training in “soft skills'' that create a critical space between the first encounter with a suspect and the decision to use lethal force. It is in this critical space that law enforcement can collect information that can avoid a violent encounter altogether and mean the difference between life and death. Officers deserve to also be armed with a full set of tools to avoid violence, collect information, and prevent the need for lethal force. Not only will these skills better equip officers to do the most common and often most difficult aspect of their jobs - keeping the peace and maintaining order - they will keep well-intentioned officers on the force and people like Brandon alive.
This distrust, disrespect, and general antipathy for the police makes it difficult, if not impossible, for them to do their jobs effectively. Citizens are increasingly less likely to help them understand the situation; rather, they are increasingly less likely to cooperate, increasing the chances of escalation and violence. And tragically, when the situations turn violent or even deadly, those officers are investigated, terminated, and sometimes prosecuted. Violent encounters further deepen distrust, and the vicious cycle continues. Police deserve better. Napa residents deserve better. We shouldn't accept as inevitable that the growing animosity and lawlessness nationwide has found its way to Napa. There is a better way.
