LOCAL

Community forum focuses on defunding the police, training

Brianna Childers
bchilders@cjonline.com
John Nave, executive vice president of the Kansas AFL-CIO, presents Thursday in the second community forum organized by Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships program and the Topeka police at the Cyrus K. Holliday building at 620 S.E. Madison St.

A community meeting Wednesday evening hosted by the Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships program and the Topeka police centered around several topics including defunding and demilitarization of the police, the department’s accreditation and police training.

The meeting, which started at 6 p.m. and was held at the city’s Cyrus K. Holliday building, 620 S.E. Madison St., was the first of two forums that will be held over two days.

The presentation and subsequent discussion that seemed to draw the most attention was about defunding and the demilitarization of the police.

John Nave, executive vice president of the Kansas AFL-CIO, presented on the topic and shared his thoughts on why Topeka shouldn’t be compared to other cities statewide and nationally.

“Many of you watched what happened across the country and some of our top largest cities talking about defunding the police,” Nave said. “My thing is they can divert funds from the police department into the community for social funds. What makes Kansas unique, its cities, its demographics, it’s not the same. It’s not as bad as you are seeing in some of these cities.”

Topeka police Chief Bill Cochran previously told The Topeka Capital-Journal defunding the police is not a bad concept, but not one that he believes is necessary in Topeka because the department has already shifted significant funding within the budget to meet social service needs.

Nave said there are several programs that are working well, including the presence of school resource officers in local schools, safe streets coalition, Topeka Human Relations Commission and the behavioral health unit.

The behavioral health unit is one that has been much needed in the Topeka community, Nave said.

“(Officers) go out and they fight crime and protect our neighborhoods,” Nave said. “But with a lot of the mental health issues throughout our community, because of lack of resources, officers have to deal with those issues, too. That’s another weight on their plate that they have to deal with. The fact that we do have that program, those officers can help evaluate and assist.”

Nave said the community needs to continue to be a partner with law enforcement and be open to discussions and collaborations.

“We cannot be adversaries,” Nave said. “We have to partner. This is our community and we are the ones responsible to help keep it safe, too.”

Lt. Robbie Simmons, TPD’s training director, spoke toward the end of the meeting about the training Topeka police officers must undergo.

The state standard is a minimum of 560 training hours, according to Simmons, but Topeka police takes it a step further and has its officers complete 960 hours.

Some of the training Topeka police officers go through include defensive tactics, communications, firearms, crisis management, law enforcement health, ethics and cultural diversity.

Officers are also required to train 40 hours per year and a minimum of firearm qualifications once a year, Simmons said. TPD trains on firearm qualifications twice a year.

“We’ve added quarterly use-of-force training,” Simmons said. “Built within that, it’s not just firearms and defensive tactics. We also discuss deescalation — how a situation can de-escalate and escalate.”

TPD also trains its officers on fair and impartial policing and search and seizure, Simmons said.

Community members sit in on a forum hosted by Strengthening Police and Community Partnerships program and the Topeka police at the Cyrus K. Holliday building at 620 S.E. Madison St.