President Donald Trump issued a "Safe Policing for Safe Communities" executive order on Tuesday that directs U.S. Attorney General William Barr to provide incentives for departments to increase use of force training, create a national database to track officer misconduct, and support the development of “co-responder programs” that would pair local police with mental health experts and social workers.
The executive order encourages agencies to seek “appropriate credentials from a reputable independent credentialing body certified by the Attorney General” by offering “Department of Justice discretionary grant funding.”
We break down the details with Florida Gulf Coast University justice studies professor, Dr. David Thomas. Dr. Thomas spent 20 years as a police officer before getting his Ph.D. in Forensic Psychology from The Union Institute. He is author of the book “The State of American Policing: Psychology, Behavior, Problems, and Solutions.”
