By Tawana Roberts, The News-Herald – POSTED:
It took place at at Notre Dame College in South Euclid and the college Police Department hosted the “Train-the-Trainer” course on racial intelligence.
[bctt tweet=”In teaching cultural diversity to officers, we’ve been doing the same thing for 20 years…” username=”RiteAcademy”]“When we see the word racial — it is not just black and white,” said Notre Dame College Police Chief Jeffery Scott. “It’s every color, every dynamic, every stretch of the culture you can imagine and how we can apply every bit of this.
I’ve seen this in my career, and where is it getting us. It’s insanity — doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
After conducting some research, Scott discovered a different approach to diversity training called Racial Intelligence Training and Engagement (RITE).
“For me this is pretty exciting as a chief because it’s helping us look at something in a very different way,” he said.
Founder and CEO Linda Webb and President Randy Friedman facilitated the session.
“I taught all the different versions of cultural diversity in law enforcement and I felt like there was a huge disconnect and that’s why I said we need to change it up,” Webb said. “I am only starting the dialogue. All I ask is that we treat everybody fairly. I want to change the way people look at cultural diversity.”
The day-long course reviewed the RITE model: Emotional intelligence + Social intelligence = Racial intelligence.
On the first of the two-day training, Friedman and Webb encouraged the attendees to identify their key emotions, learn to control their emotions and link ethics and integrity into their daily routine. In law enforcement for 35 years, Webb shared many experiences.
“I have rolled out of my patrol car angry and I can tell you that when I rolled out of my patrol car in anger, no good was coming to any member of the community that I came in contact with,” she said.
[bctt tweet=”“The first objective is to know where you are emotionally before you roll out of that patrol car.”” username=”RiteAcademy”]Are you even ready to engage with the community? She explains that while thousands of dollars are being spent on physically preparing and training officers there are no tools for communication.
“Ninety-five percent of the time you have to use your communication skills when answering a call,” Webb said. “I know what it is like to have a gun to my head and knife to my throat. I didn’t shoot either of them. You know what saved me — my ability to communicate and my ability to de-escalate.”
Friedman added that officers must look at things differently to change.
“It’s perception that creates your reality,” she said. “Our commitment is to improve the person first to improve the profession.”
About this article
Thank you Tawana Roberts, and The News-Herald, for covering this important training. We encourage more media to cover stories like RITE Training, as there is a lot of good being done for law enforcement. When we improve our officers lives first… the department morale improves, and community trust increases.
RITE Training helps de-escalate 95% of calls. Unique cultural diversity with EI & SI improves communication, builds Career resiliency, and improves Department morale. See our EVENTS page for a training near you, or become a Host site! Contact us about TRAINING for your agency.
