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S.F. police training shifts toward de-escalation, staged firearm qualification
Summary
San Francisco Police training leaders described changes to recruit and in-service instruction aimed at reducing force: new pistol qualifications require officers to "see and hear" a threat before firing, range and simulator upgrades enable varied scenarios, and recruits now receive expanded crisis-intervention and implicit-bias instruction.
The San Francisco Police Department's training division outlined a series of revisions to use-of-force training and qualifications on Feb. 17, part of a broader reengineering effort informed by national recommendations.
Captain Greg Yee, commanding officer of the training division, described practical changes at the academy and range that emphasize assessment, communication and proportionality. "We've added an entire day of training for pistol qualifications where' officers now have to visually' they have to hear the word 'threat' to fire at their targets," he said, explaining that the qualification sequence forces officers to identify a credible threat before discharging a firearm.
Yee explained the department is adding a 360-degree targeting system on the Lake Merced range and structuring "stages of fire" so officers fire in short sequences with assessment periods between shots. He said the training emphasizes the national decision-making model (collect information, assess the threat, choose options, act and reassess) to allow officers to slow down in dynamic situations and opt for lower-level responses when appropriate.
The training changes also expand scenario-based de-escalation work. Since October 2015, recruits have received 40 hours of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training; the department is sending members to implicit-bias and procedural-justice 'train-the-trainer' courses so instruction can be scaled internally. Captain Yee said the curriculum stresses "time, distance, cover, rapport and communications" and the "sanctity of life" as a core value.
Deputy Chief Tony Chaplin, newly appointed to lead the Bureau of Professional Standards and Principal Policing, will serve as the liaison to the Department of Justice collaborative review and oversee policy follow-through, Chief Sur said at the meeting.
The commission paused the presentation to take up other business but asked the chief and Captain Yee to return with follow-ups; commissioners praised the emphasis on de-escalation and said they would monitor implementation and training frequency.
