Austin Police Train with Diversity "Immersion"

June 14, 2006

Source: The Daily Texan

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=55ee9612-69f5-4eca-88f0-c4a2f9c8b139

On June 14, 2006 The Daily Texan reported, "Early this week, Austin Police Department cadets participated in diversity training conducted by their peers. The training program designed to help future officers become more familiar with diverse Austin communities... This is the second class of cadets who have participated in this training. The 'Cadet Community Immersion' program was created to help change a department whose record towards minorities has been 'challenging,' said Nelson Linder, chairman of the Austin NAACP.

Recent incidents have increased tension between the police and some minority communities... Cadets are broken up into nine groups and immersed into different minority communities around Austin. Each one of the groups was given a specific community to explore. The research included observing different activities, talking to community leaders and interacting with local citizens, according to a department press release.

'To serve this community you have to know this program,' said Jeff Adickes, commander of the southeast area police command. 'Getting cadets out of the comfort zone of the academy is key to producing better police officers.'

Based on their experiences, police cadets prepared a 45-minute slide show dealing with the demographics and background issues regarding interaction with minority communities. They also prepared a 15-minute video which featured interviews with community leaders as well as with people on the streets.

Outreach efforts by the department began in the early 1980s and were not met with much success according to Adickes. He said he thinks this program will be different. Currently, it is an Austin-only program 'that is being considered for implementation by police departments around the country,' he said."