Columbia’s police chief is proposing some changes in response to Black Lives Matter protests, including more training for officers and a focus on a “Fit-for-Duty” program.
Chief Michael Kelly announced the proposals at a staff meeting Monday and said some of the things can be accomplished through a special order and others will require approval from the Board of Aldermen.
“What we are going to do is not going to limit our guys but give them more options,” he said.
The first proposed change is to increase the amount of continuing education from 24 hours a year to 75 hours, beginning July 1.
“My wife called me and said, ‘You know it requires more training and education to be a hair stylist than it does to be a police officer?’” Kelly said on why he is implementing the change.
Kelly said he is going to advocate encouraging the officers to continue their education. If they have a degree, they should be paid more, he said. Kelly said the job of serving in the law enforcement should be a prestigious career and not someone who was bullied as a child and becomes an officer to exert authority.
Also the department is going to focus on a Fit-for-Duty program. The mandated program looks at three different areas: physical, mental and spiritual health of the officer. Physical fitness is intended so an officer does not get injured during his scope of work. The department also wants to increase the number of police chaplains, who help with spiritual health.
“Mental health of the police is always overlooked,” Kelly said.
The police officer has the most stressful job, Kelly said, because the officer sees the worst of the worst and has to live with it every day. Officers have the highest divorce rate because they bring the stuff home, and families are not equipped to handle everything the officer has gone through, he said.
He said he wants to make sure officers have the necessary resources to help with the mental load each one carries. If an officer is deemed high risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Kelly wants to advocate paid leave time.
“Our No. 1 asset is our employees,” Kelly said.
Kelly said while it is in the policy, he is going to reiterate to the department that if an officer sees another officer breaking the law and/or using excessive force, the first officer must step in, intervene and report it.
The lateral vascular neck restraint, which was used in the death of George Floyd, is a move that is not allowed to be used, he said. The move, if executed correctly, works by slowing the blood flow down to calm the person. However, if used incorrectly, it will cut off the air flow. Kelly said the tactic does not need to be used.
