Today, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Pamela A. Smith are announcing new and innovative training to help diffuse situations involving people in crisis.
MPD will include the Integrating Communications Assessment and Tactics (ICAT) training, utilized by 120 law enforcement agencies in 30 states, into its professional development training beginning in 2024 The 16-hour course was developed by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) following unrest in 2014 and 2015. ICAT has resulted in reduction of force incidents and reduction of citizen and officer injuries in major cities across the country.
All 3,328 sworn MPD officers and recruits will undergo the two-day course delivered at MPD’s Police Academy. The course will consist of classroom and scenario-based training. Officers will learn how time, distance and cover will provide opportunities to communicate and calm down a situation, rather than use force. PERF is providing the training at no cost to MPD.
“We want our officers to demonstrate empathy, passion and care, but also not be afraid to take necessary law enforcement actions to protect our community,” said Chief Smith. “The goal of ICAT is not to eliminate uses of force but provide our officers additional skills that allow them to handle a range of critical incidents safely and successfully.”
ICAT supplements training MPD officers have received since 2022 in which every officer has completed a two-day mental health first aid training or been certified as a Crisis Intervention Officer. This collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Health has helped better equip officers to respond to people who are dealing with behavioral health challenges.
MPD’s goal is that its officers have the best knowledge, skills, and resources to address the challenging situations they encounter on a day-to-day basis.