As part of an enduring emphasis on safety and accountability, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department has expanded training in both conflict de-escalation and body-worn camera operation.
Every deputy receives training in these key areas on an ongoing, comprehensive basis – an approach that helps proper techniques come naturally to deputies in the field.
The department has integrated de-escalation and camera training into nearly every layer of peace officer instruction, including:
- The Basic Peace Officer academy, a six-month program to train new deputies.
- The Modular Peace Officer academy, a one-year program for working men and women which trains new deputies on weekends.
- Transition training when deputies are transferred to patrol after initial assignments in local jails or courts.
- Recurring training programs, including the department’s California Peace Officer’s Standards and Training (POST) Perishable Skills Program (PSP). The sheriff has added eight hours of de-escalation instruction to mandatory PSP training, which now spans 32 hours per deputy biennially.
This approach helps ensure that deputies take the best possible steps to prevent violent encounters while keeping officers, suspects and the public safe. In Riverside, sheriff’s de-escalation training includes modern simulators, dialogue with experts in critical-incident response, and scenario-based instruction on how to defuse and de-escalate threats in a spectrum of high-stress situations.
Body-worn cameras, deployed by the Riverside Sheriff in 2016, further enhance safety and accountability. The department this year added more than 200 “dummy” devices to cost-effectively expand camera training into peace officer academies, deputy transition school, force option simulators and active shooter response courses.
Such training instills best practices, including proper activation of cameras during critical incidents, into every deputy through intensive, recurring instruction.