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New DC police training program helps officers diffuse tense situations
The Metropolitan Police Department has started a new training to help officers diffuse tense situations when people are in crisis. The department gave FOX 5’s Stephanie Ramirez a behind-the-scenes look.
WASHINGTON - The Metropolitan Police Department has announced a new training, beginning in January 2024, that will teach officers how to better handle tense situations involving a person in crisis.
Instead of being quick to draw a gun, the point of this training is to slow things down.
It’s nicknamed "ICAT," which stands for "Integrating Communications Assessment and Tactics" training. D.C. police officials told FOX 5 the training is supposed to be for scenarios not involving a gun, where the officers are taught how to communicate better, enter, and calm down a situation instead of turning to their gun first.
The department brought reporters into their police academy facility Monday to run through two scenarios to demonstrate the ICAT training. One scenario involved a baseball coach who went to confront his wife’s alleged lover with a baseball bat. The alleged lover was a principal at a school.
The officers spoke to the man’s position as a role model for his kids and talked with him about not wanting to ruin his life.
All 3,328 sworn MPD officers are supposed to undergo the two-day training starting in January. We’re told about 1/3rd of the department previously received de-escalation training in 2022.
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What’s the difference?
"You know de-escalation, you know previously it's been a lot of classroom or verbal. That’s how it was kind of taught, right? But the great thing about ICAT is that it's very scenario-based," said MPD Academy Director Commander David Hong. "It’s a very robust curriculum."
D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith told FOX 5, "As we continue to engage with the community every single day – and when we come in contact with individuals who are suffering from mental crisis, I want our officers to have the best training and the best tools to address that."
Does ICAT training impact the city’s current public safety crisis?
FOX 5 was told several crimes police respond to also involve a person in crisis of some sort.
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This training came from Ferguson protests erupting after the 2014 police-involved shooting of Michael Brown.
According to the National Institute of Justice, the head of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), shared how he went to the United Kingdom and watched a Scottland police recruit graduation and was struck by how none of those officers had firearms on their police belts. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., there were protests all across the country and rioting over Brown’s death because he was gunned down by an officer.
"The D.C. Police Union supports Chief Smith and her implementation of this advanced training system," said D.C. Police Union Chair Gregg Pemberton in an email to FOX 5. "It reflects the Union’s dedication to continuous improvement and ensures that our officers are well-prepared to navigate complex situations while focusing on officer safety as well as the safety and well-being of the communities they serve."