We want better trained officers. The better trained we are, the less mistakes we make.
As part of the city of Mission’s efforts to increase training on mental health within the police department, the city council agreed to contract a consulting firm to provide training to their police officers on de-escalation tactics, biases and courtroom demeanor.
At the request of Police Chief Cesar Torres, the council hired Vazaldua and Associates last week to provide a half-day training on de-escalation tactics; a half-day training on implicit and evolutionary bias; and another half-day training on courtroom demeanor for their police officers.
Torres emphasized the need for this type of training when he was sworn in as the chief of police in May 2022.
“There’s no doubt that our department needs immediate and sustained training in implicit biases,” Torres said in his speech. “We need more training in de-escalation, and more importantly, we need more training in mental health.”
The courses that will be taught, which are certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, or TCOLE, will involve a test that will measure the officers’ personal biases and will teach officers how to de-escalate situations based on those personal biases, according to Paul Vazaldua of Vazaldua and Associates.
Officers will also learn how to identify drugs prescribed for mental health reasons and learn to tell the difference between medication for depression, for example, versus drugs prescribed for schizophrenia.
As for training on courtroom demeanor, Vazaldua said officers will learn about courtroom procedures and will be trained on how to deliver testimony. They will be hearing presentations from a state prosecutor, a defense attorney and a state district judge during the course.
Torres said the police department is always in need of more training and noted that TCOLE mandates that officers take a minimum of 40 hours of training every two years.
“One of my top priorities coming into the agency is (to) promote training because training is what guides our officers to make smarter decisions,” Torres said Tuesday. “An untrained officer sometimes could cause a decision that could cause a liability to the city, or more importantly, someone could get injured whether it’s the officer or a citizen so training is always important.”
The full day of training that will cover de-escalation tactics and biases will cost $199 per student, not to exceed 90 officers. Meanwhile, the half-day of training on courtroom demeanor will be at a cost of $75 per student, not to exceed 80 officers.
The total cost is expected to come out to no more than $25,000.
The decision on which officers will participate in the training is based on what type of training they’ve already undergone according to their TCOLE records, the chief said.
“We want better trained officers. The better trained we are, the less mistakes we make,” Torres said. “Again, some of those mistakes could cost millions of dollars in liability or it could cause someone to get injured and so it’s important to keep our officers trained again and again.”
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