SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Police Department is changing- from the way officers interact with you and your family to the way they take down suspects.
Chief William McManus traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to take part in a collaborative think tank with police chiefs and policy makers from around the country on ways to reform how officers interact with citizens.
Police reform has become part of a national conversation after scenes of communities and officers clashing played out on national television from places like Ferguson, Missouri, last year.
Locally, SAPD is changing its policing philosophy.
The old nationally-known model was known as A.T.M., which stands for Ask, Tell, Make.
“I’m going to ask. If you don't do it, I'm going to tell you and if you don't do it again, I’m going to make you do it. That's pretty harsh, in my opinion,” said McManus.
So SAPD has begun teaching the L.E.E.D. model, which stands for Listen and Explain with Equity and Dignity.
“It’s the simplest of all concepts. The simplest,” McManus said.
Officers are also pursuing suspects less frequently. Instead, they are now weighing more heavily the risk to the surrounding community and calling off a chase when that risk is too great.
“If we were going to get into a pursuit with somebody, we were going to catch them come hell or high water,” said McManus. “Prior to the pursuit policy being changed, we averaged 111 pursuits a year. After the change was made, we averaged 33.”
In 2008, SAPD created a specialized mental health unit, which was ahead of curve compared to some other departments.
That unit recently hosted Crisis Intervention Training attended by officers from across the state and country.
McManus knows changes are far from over and changing the long-standing police culture is a challenge all its own.
“Trying to teach de-escalation tactics when it hasn’t been taught, not been focused on much in the past, is a big change,” he said. “We need to make sure that officers understand that is not done at the expense of their safety.”
That change begins with training. No longer is training at the SAPD Academy an in-your-face, military boot camp style training.
Today, it’s more focused in an academic setting coupled with real life scenarios.
“You know, you have this reform train coming down the tracks and if you don’t stay in front of it, you're going to get hit by it,” McManus said.