Cape chief Blair attends policing summit at White House; bias, tech are among topics

Cape Girardeau police chief Wes Blair was one of 100 representatives from various law-enforcement agencies to attend the 21st Century Policing initiative briefing Tuesday at the White House.

The briefing consisted of several sessions during the day to discuss six topics:

• building trust and legitimacy
• policy and oversight
• technology and social media
• community policing and crime reduction
• training and education and
• officer wellness and safety.

Blair's three take-aways from the briefing were focuses on implicit-bias training, using social media to engage the public and using data for transparency and crime prevention.

Cape Girardeau officers receive implicit-bias training annually, Sgt. Adam Glueck said.

Implicit bias, whether it's based on race, socio-economic status, appearance or other criteria, are attitudes and stereotypes that exist on a subconscious level and develop over a lifetime, according to the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University.

Everyone harbors at least some form of implicit bias regardless of how impartial he or she tries to think, Blair said.

Researcher Melody Saddler used a video game in 2012 to show participants identified black people as violent threats more quickly than white, Asian or Latino counterparts, according to the report.

Blair said one session at the briefing emphasized identifying and understanding implicit bias to counteract biases in law enforcement.

"You have to recognize that it does exist, and everybody has it," Blair said. "You can't fix a problem until you know what it is."

Methods for addressing biases include counter-stereotype training to introduce new associations through visual and verbal clues, expose people to counter-stereotype individuals and taking the perspective of others, according to the Kirwan report.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department also has become more active on Facebook and Twitter in the past year.

In May, Cape Girardeau police asked the public for information on people of interest in the Domorlo McCaster homicide investigation. After the department posted the pictures of Michael Anderson, Brian Jackson and Rodney Smith on May 23 and Terrell Hunt and Clarissa Simpson on May 26, it was able to find each person in a day with help from the public.

Two of those people of interest were in the same sport-utility vehicle when Malcolm Harris, 24, of Cape Girardeau shot McCaster in the back of the head May 14 and one of them helped dump McCaster's body near Ranney Park, according to a probable-cause statement from detective Joe Thomas. The two witnesses were interviewed by police and provided information necessary to arrest Harris on May 27.

"It's not something we do flippantly," Blair said of posting information of people of interest. "That's really been our whole focus -- to get the public's help."

Blair said the department has received public assistance during several recent investigations, and he hopes the public's attitude has changed since the Quinton Combs homicide investigation, which was stymied by a lack of witness cooperation.

Blair said public participation, however, is a two-way street -- people are more willing to come forward if they see investigators working diligently.

"You go to the person you trust," Blair said. "We want people to look at our officers differently, to say they know them."

In that way, a social-media presence works hand-in-hand with community policing efforts the department has undertaken, including weekly community roll-call events in different neighborhoods and monthly Coffee with Cops events.

Facebook and Twitter also show officers helping people, whether it's buying a new bicycle for a robbery victim or recently comforting a young girl who had an unfortunate interaction with a heavily intoxicated person.

"It's easy to get in the trap and say, 'I'm going to deal with the bad guy,'" Blair said. "Our officers care a lot, and they wanted to make that little girl's day better."

Cape Girardeau police have had trouble collecting and analyzing data on crimes because of software the department has used for the past 10 years, Blair said.

For example, shootings are difficult to identify with the department's current system because offenses are logged by charge, Glueck said. A shooting could be a homicide, armed criminal action or first-degree assault, but in each case, officers need to examine the actual report to determine whether a gun was used, Glueck said.

It is difficult for officers to look at trends based on location and time of the offense, Blair said.

"It requires you to rely on anecdotal knowledge," Blair said. "We try our best with the data we have."

Blair said a new software system would cost between $300,000 and $500,000. Federal grants were not discussed at the briefing, but Blair thinks they could be available for technology needs.

City manager Scott Meyer said a new software system for the police department is not on the city's five-year Capital Improvement Plan but will be included in CIP discussions in December. There are two other needs for the department that take precedence, Meyer said.

The first is new radios, including a new antenna, and replacing radios in every patrol car, Meyer said. The upgrade is projected to cost $1.5 million, Meyer said.

"That's critical," Meyer said. "If you can't talk to somebody, that puts a life in danger."

The second priority is body cameras, which would cost more than $100,000, Meyer said. The police department has recommended a grant to help buy the cameras, Meyer said. Cameras provide a benefit in public perception and liability, Meyer said.

bkleine@semissourian.com

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