NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Protests across the country are exploding as people continue to stand up against police brutality.

At a time when many fear being treated differently by law enforcement for things like the color of their skin — the Newport News Police Department is working to put implicit bias training at the forefront.

“What we can’t do is allow those biases to impact how we police our communities,” said Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew.

This week, 10 officers completed the bias course alongside 20 others from police departments around the country.

The two-day training aims to expose people to their unconscious biases that can affect their attitude and actions.

“What that training allowed us to do is to see it, recognize it, identify what our biases are, and not allow us to have that influence how we interact with citizens and how we respond to calls,” Drew said.

It’s currently being suggested before the General Assembly for all law enforcement agencies in Virginia to complete the training.

Drew says in the past they’ve sent a few officers at a time to complete it, but now those 10 officers are certified to teach others in the department.

He says the training goes deep into what causes a certain bias such as upbringing or personality.

“If an individual walked up in a New York Yankees baseball jersey, well, I grew up in Cincinnati — I’ve already got some feelings about someone wearing a New York Yankees Jersey. They were explaining to me that’s bias right there … it’s just little things like that, then it builds,” Drew explained.

He says he wants everyone down to the dispatchers to go through the training, to better every interaction with community members.

Drew says he plans to have all the officers in the police department trained by December of 2021.


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