Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Lancaster police present use-of-force report, training overview; chief says department mandates de-escalation and regular review
Summary
Chief Mendez told the public safety committee on April 1 that Lancaster’s police bureau mandates training in de-escalation, mental-health awareness and use-of-force standards and described a multi-tiered process for reviewing use-of-force incidents.
Chief Mendez presented Lancaster’s police bureau training and use-of-force reporting procedures to the public safety committee on April 1, describing mandated training requirements, reporting triggers and multi-layered internal reviews.
Chief Mendez said Lancaster requires officers to complete a minimum of 16 hours of training annually and described internal and external training programs including defensive tactics, de-escalation, mental-health awareness, trauma-informed approaches and crisis-intervention training (CIT). "We mandate 16 hours of training a year... Since January of 2024, they have conducted over a hundred and 50 hours of training on their own time," the chief said, noting voluntary training that officers undertake outside paid duty time.
On use-of-force reporting, the chief said the department’s policy (posted on the…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
