Police chief says logistical issues will push back NAACP-recommended training

Mike Crowley, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
·3 min read

May 8—Meadville city police officers will wait until next year to receive training in trauma-informed care that members of the local chapter of the NAACP recently recommended the department pursue immediately.

In a memo discussed during City Council's meeting this week, Chief Michael Tautin said that logistical concerns and the need for state-approved trainers meant that the delay made sense.

"In consideration that the state-mandated training is eight months away and that the (Municipal Police Officers Education Training Commission) will not recognize training provided by another source," Tautin wrote, "the logical course of action is to allow the officers to be trained by MPOETC in a training geared specifically for police officers provided by MPOETC-approved trainers."

Expedited training in trauma-informed care was among a list of six recommendations presented to City Council last month by members of the local chapter of the NAACP. The ideas were the result of a series of meetings between NAACP members, police department leadership and City Council members that were held in the wake of the murder of George Floyd last May in Minneapolis.

Training in trauma-informed care will be required for municipal officers statewide next year. The three-hour course will be among the 12 hours of in-service training mandated each year for certified municipal police officers.

But NAACP member Marcia Metcalfe told council, "We have resources in this community that we offered up to help with some of this training at no cost to the city. We need a commitment from the city to move forward before we invest additional effort in putting these materials together."

The state's Continuing Law Enforcement Education allows officers to receive training from other providers, but those providers must submit documentation for a rigorous review and approval process.

Even if that were a possibility, Tautin said the department would be hard pressed to find a time for the training this year. Tautin typically schedules the department's in-service training during the first four months of the year with officers rotating through the various courses. Over the course of the rest of 2021, officers must also complete two firearms training sessions and another course to maintain their CPR certification.

The NAACP request, Tautin's memo continued, comes just as the department is entering a portion of the year commonly used for vacations. With the force already down one member due to a retirement and the constant possibility that routine injuries could reduce staffing further, adding trauma training to the schedule would be taxing on the department.

"The training would have to be done in small groups over multiple days and sessions with officers being forced in on overtime during a season when they are already being forced in on overtimes," Tautin stated."

Councilwoman Autumn Vogel, who participated in the meetings between police department leaders and the NAACP last year, said she was "disappointed" with the chief's recommendation, especially since many of the concerns he raised had been covered in previous discussions over the past year.

"But I get it," she said. "We're not going to make the officers go through a training that they don't want to do. That doesn't seem like it would be productive for anybody."

But, Vogel continued, the sequence of events — community members meeting on multiple occasions with police officials, then appearing before council with a request, only to have that request turned down — raises a question: "How can citizens make a request of their police department?" she asked. "Who can enforce that or see it through?"

Interim City Manager Gary Johnson said the chief sets police department policy.

"I would never say the community doesn't have good ideas — I'm not saying that at all," Johnson said, "but I hesitate from my standpoint to take his judgment out of it and put mine in. ... He knows what's best for the department and the officers."

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.