Police interactions with the public tend to stay on the forefront of breaking news and are one of the main subjects of encounters gone wrong on social media. One of the strategies employed to help curb the negative outcomes is to train officers for scenarios that they will encounter in the field. On Wednesday, June 1, the Sunflower County Courthouse was the site of a training session for law enforcement from all over the Delta. “There were a little more than 50 officers here today from all local law enforcement agencies,” said Mississippi Fourth Circuit Court District Attorney Dewayne Richardson. “We discussed and shared experiences about the entire process from the time of arrest to through the trial.”
Richardson said that officers represented Sunflower County Sheriff’s Department, Indianola Police Department, Mississippi Highway Patrol and city and county law enforcement officials from neighboring communities. The experience level of the officers ranged from just three months in uniform to 43 years of service. “One of the main purposes of this training is for us to get to know one another because our work overlaps quite a bit,” he said. “We share some of the same defendants and witnesses and it’s important that law enforcement work well together as a whole regardless of what agency is represented.”
The training lasted the entire day and it allowed officers to share their experiences and provide tips and advice to their law enforcement brethren. “The most important thing about the entire process of law enforcement is being on one accord,” Richardson said. “We let the officers know what information that we expect to be in a case file and that the end goal is a successful prosecution.”
Even though Richardson’s office oversaw this training, these gatherings are far from one-way, top-down communication. The exchanges are open, honest, and intended to help each officer perform legally, ethically and professionally in the field. “They listen, learn and share advice with one another,” Richardson said. “They accept constructive criticism from one another in the spirit that we can vow to work harder, learn more and increase our overall effort.”
Richardson said that the trainings move from city to city for accessibility to all officers. This is the third training of 2022. The next training will take place during the summer and will be overseen by the US Attorney’s office regarding investigative techniques.
“We invite all law enforcement to join us when we have training,” Richardson said.
