WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) For weeks, people have rallied across the nation in protest of the tactics Minneapolis police officers used during the arrest and death of George Floyd.
While the demonstrations continue, organizers are beginning to lay out the clear policy changes they want to see.
One of the initiatives is called "8 Can't Wait." It asks cities and police departments to adopt more restrictive use of force policies to reduce killings by police, including:
• Banning chokeholds and strangleholds
• Requiring de-escalation
• Requiring warning before shooting
• Exhausting all alternatives before shooting
• Duty to intervene
• Banning shooting at moving vehicles
• Requiring use of force continuum
• Requiring comprehensive reporting
Narciso Narvais is a Defensive Tactics Training Coordinator with the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office. He's trained recruits for the last ten years and has taught them about bias-free policing.
"One of the things we all do as human beings is try to find patterns, and that's very useful, so we don't have to digest information all the time over and over, but sometimes those patterns can be misleading or in some circumstances, wrong altogether," said Narvais.
He said if a police officer approaches a situation with a bias, their focus is on the bias and not the situation as a whole.
"Something may happen to us - negative," said Narvais. "We try to teach the officers how to digest that information in a more rational fashion and put it to a more appropriate use so we can engage people's behaviors instead of judging them as persons based on race, gender or creed."
Narvais said Sedgwick County deputies receive the training annually. He said it also builds upon other disciplines the deputies have learned, such as defensive tactics and fair and impartial policing.
"If we can efficiently communicate and we can efficiently present ourselves as professionals, then a lot of our conflicts may be resolved at the very first meeting, rather than having to escalate into potentially physical violence," said Narvais.
The Salina Police Department has written policies that cover all eight points.
The Hutchinson Police Department said the policy they use called Lexipol Knowledge Management System covered all but one of the points. That is force continuum because it's an older practice and is taught less frequently.
The Wichita Police Department said it covers some of the points in its use of force policy and others in its practices and procedures. You can find its response to each point here.
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Law enforcement in Kansas respond to '8 Can't Wait' demands - KWCH
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