Police reform, training

Only human

Regarding “HPD reform” (Page B8, Wednesday), I don’t believe that police officers arrive for work with a bad attitude or a personal dislike for any member of society, but when confronted by a belligerent offender, things change, and can cause any normal person to lose his or her usual cool.

It happens with parents, with teachers, with supervisors, why would we expect police officers to be exempted from this most basic human trait?

Lawrence Keen, Pearland

Police training

The Houston Police Officers Union under the direction of its president, Ray Hunt, hosted a training course this month for area police officers and administrators.

The course, “Legal Issues in the Use of Deadly Force,” is designed to present the latest research into the dynamics of human behavior during lifethreatening encounters. The course is offered by the Force Science Institute, a Minnesota-based research firm comprised of physicians, psychologists, behavioral scientists and attorneys dedicated to the unbiased application of scientific research on a wide-range of areas associated with human behavior.

The HPOU along with Robert Armbruster from its legal counsel team did a fantastic job of making this critical training available to many of the area’s smaller police agencies.

Many of the attending agencies have established themselves as progressive members of the law enforcement community. They understand how the institute’s program provides unbiased and empirical research that can then be taken back to their own communities to further help them educate their respective citizenry.

This course was well attended by both police administrators and educators from the greater Houston area, including Santa Fe Police Chief Kenneth Campbell, Pasadena Police Chief Michael Thayer, Freeport Police Chief Dan Pennington, Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon, and Galveston Police Captain Jeff Heyse and Detective Wayne Moody.

In the current political and community climate, police administrators must take every step available to assure that they can provide the best police service for their citizens.

I would like to personally thank the HPOU, as should the communities of the greater Houston area, for helping all of us gain professional training and helping us to continue to protect with respect.