Washington law enforcement officers are significantly behind in completing deescalation and mental health training required under the state’s police accountability law, according to a report released by the state auditor’s office. The audit found that just 16% of veteran officers and 14% of new officers had finished the required 40 hours of training. Roughly 42% of veteran officers were at least halfway done. At the current rate, under half of the state’s officers will have finished by the 2028 deadline.
The mandated training, stemming from Initiative 940—a sweeping police reform effort approved by voters in 2018 and enacted as the Law Enforcement Training and Community Safety Act—aims to reduce use-of-force cases and improve trust in law enforcement. The training includes 16 hours of mostly online community and cultural awareness courses and 24 hours of in-person patrol tactics training every three years. Topics cover managing distance between officers and those they interact with, managing the pace of interactions, communication strategies for engaging with those with mental health issues, and physical force alternatives.
Police departments now have a newly added incentive: to access the state’s new $100 million grant program aimed at boosting police hiring, agencies must reach 50% compliance with the 40-hour training requirement. State Auditor Pat McCarthy stated: “The goal of this law is to improve interactions between police officers and community members. By addressing the issues raised by our findings, Washington can continue to build better relationships between law enforcement agencies and the diverse communities they serve.”
The audit identified several roadblocks to completion. The Criminal Justice Training Commission uses a “train-the-trainer” approach where officers complete an 80-hour course to become instructors, but this is expensive and difficult to coordinate. The Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs blames “chronic underinvestment” from the state, noting Washington ranks last nationally in police staffing per capita, making it infeasible to remove officers from the streets for training. Officers also reported some resistance to cultural awareness training due to “personal and political reasons,” and in-person trainings are difficult to schedule.
The auditor’s office recommends establishing a legislative workgroup to revise state law, potentially providing financial support for the train-the-trainer courses and implementing consequences for non-compliance. The Criminal Justice Training Commission said it “generally agrees with the findings and recommendations” but noted some require “additional funding and staff resources.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.kxly.com/news/wa-police-lag-on-required-deescalation-mental-health-training/article_c2186fb3-5ca9-48e1-b63d-7d6b8e0b5d08.html