training is absolutely vital essential to us as a department. and officers are paid while they're being trained is that correct yes they are. and would be fair to see that part of the objective of training is to impart minneapolis police department all policies on to the officers that they know what the what those policies are and are evil to apply them yes it's important through training that we're reemphasizing that not only are policies but really are values as a police department and what are community expects of us to help our officers it's also help or communities at the same time. as a former patrol officer who's use force put handcuffs on people if you understand the reality of what policing is like when you're actually on duty is that right then screw you also testified that you've participated and continue to participate

in the training that's been provided by m p d and it's continued to be provided there is for is this training practical and useful yes it is why do you say that. our officers are being called critical patrol officers are being called to again respond in a way to our communities needs and it's hundreds of thousands of calls that they respond to and. you know we're a very. interesting profession in that some professions your body of work matters and to an extent within the minneapolis police department our body of work matters but it's more internally. but to our communities for the most part your body of work doesn't hold as much value. we don't have the luxury of being able to go up to a community member for the 1st time and say you know those 99 calls i was on before it went really well trust me on this one we don't have the luxury of doing that our

communities are going you know what if you done for me lately this interaction it kate i'm going to grade you on how you treat me during this call during this interaction cell. so we have to make each. engagement with our community count and so that training is very important because for many in our communities the 1st time that big encounter minneapolis police officer may be the only time in their life they do and so that that singular incident matters aside from the usefulness of it to the community what about the usefulness of it from a practical standpoint to the patrol officer out on the street is this is this training practical or is it more aspirational no it's very practical and as i mentioned earlier it is so important that we have all as

a police department in meter communities. where they are and i'll give a couple examples if if you don't mind. we've talked a lot about. within the department that we know that our communities suffer at times and go through trauma so it's very important for men and women to have training as it relates to. how we respond in those moments what resources can we provide for community but one of things that we have not talked about in this profession. and sadly it is the impacts of trauma on our own officers and so wellness we do a great deal of training and work on officer wellness because we need to make sure that our officers are well when they're interacting with their communities. in that in that regard. i will also tell you a few years ago. we were hearing from members of our transgender community

and how they had felt police have played. a role in their lives and not always not always good quite frankly and so we were able to through conversation through discussion and through meetings of being very authentic we were able to sit and craft a policy based upon members of our transgender gena not conforming community really guiding that we had the 1st policy ever in that and so again it's so important that we as a police agency continue to evolve continue to place a value on all of our community members and so that's very important now. i'm speaking of the minneapolis police policies you're aware that the police department has a. fairly extensive policy and procedure manual it's pretty thick correct. and is it important done for policies and procedures to be in a written form so that officers understand what the expectations are yes it is and

those are public documents so that the public they are also able to see what the expectations of the police officers are correct it is rare. as the chief of police and being employed by a m.p.t. as long as you have to get you're familiar with the minneapolis police department policy and procedure manuals and all the content contained inside gives. you in fact created some of these policies that is rude. are minneapolis police officers required to be ther mil year with the various written policies yes we are and there is a policy requiring them to be familiar with the policy is correct gets screwed right so if you please publish exhibit 207. if you would highlight section one dash 103.

this is the policy about the policy and it requires that the m.p.t. employees shall be provided instructions on how to access the policy and procedure manual as i write it is. in their accountable for knowing how to and where how and where to access in for knowing the contents of the manual is that right it is written in there also required to sign a receipt acknowledging their responsibility for knowing the contents of the manual correct because the 1st policy manual that you would receive as a patrol officer might not be you know 30 years later what you look at correct yes and the policies are changing but they're published they're public and officers are required to know what they are and to sign something saying we will continue to review them as i write then. they will be ruled.

yes all right. well if you could that would please at this time. just display to the witness exhibit $274.00 for jennifer cation. do you recognize this the general form here of being an electronic version of the n.p.t. policy and procedure manual acknowledgement. is that you this is. an example of an acknowledgement for that a minneapolis police department employee patrol officer would sign upon being hired is that right is just indicating that they are aware that there are written policies and committing to. reviewing them accessing them was that right gives. you the 7 offer exhibit you said before.

while you've been listening that testimony from. radar and under his minneapolis' police chief in that testimony is set to continue at the moment we do see both

defense and prosecution attorneys conferring there appears to be some kind of issue and at this point we may have some kind of a break or a sidebar but if we can the police chief to snow i believe that's been resolved now let's go back to listening to what the police chief aren't on to has to say. one of the forms that was signed by a particular officer upon the hire and if you can please highlight the name. and that's signed by a direct shot at children so sorry your children. badge attending 87 december. 28th 2001 is that correct yes. you can see that. minneapolis police department has a code of ethics is that right yes in the code of ethics is contained within the

policy manual forgive me we're really talking a lot about the policy manual kind of marks through some of these but the code of ethics if you could please display exhibit 215. 2. and if you could highlight 5 dash 10201. and now is the code of ethics provides in the policy manual law enforcement officers fundamental duty to serve mankind and safeguard guard lives and property and to protect the innocent against assumption in the weak against oppression and intimidation is that right and that is crude.

if you could take that down. police department also has a professional policing policy as i write is that a high level can you describe what professional policing means that context yes minneapolis police department professional policing. it's really about treating people with dignity and respect above all else at the highest level it's that we see each other as necessary we value one another and it's really treating people with the dignity and respect they deserve if we can display then exhibit 215. drawing your attention to for. section 5 ish 104.01. seriousness the professional policing policy yes it is in could you read the 1st bullet please the 1st bullet greets be

courteous respectful polite and professional. and if you would then also read the 3rd bullet. ensure that the length of any detention is no longer than necessary to take appropriate action for the known or suspected offense. and you can take that means. serve. fair to say that law enforcement generally has changed a lot since you started back in 1990 s. that right that is current 1990 do not have body work cameras cracked that is. nor did you have sort of the. ability for civilians bystanders to video or record conduct of police officers right we didn't. because we didn't have smartphones that's true and now we do this and as you indicated the policies and culture of the police department has to change with the times is that right is in

so in terms of understanding that sometimes bystanders do use their smartphones to take video images of police officers have you has the minneapolis police department imparted any training or constructed any policies to prepare officers for people recording yes we have we've. imparted policy that really is informing officers that individuals under their 1st amendment rights they have the absolute 1st minute or 8 to record through cell phone video or other types of video officers interacting or engaging with a community member with the. that they can not obstruct. the activity of the officers but they absolutely have the right barring that to record us performing

our our duties and what is obstruct mean in this context obstruct would mean interfering doing something where you are physically placing yourself in a position where you can no longer you're no longer or you're prohibiting the officers for carrying out their lawful duties but barring that. individuals have the right to record our our engagement with our community in chief you'd have to acknowledge that a patrol officer may find it irritating to have a civilian recording their activities through very true is that obstruction it is not. at this time i would like to display to the witness. only exhibit 273 and if i may step on it.

at this time i will offer exhibit 273 any objection. to 73. if you would publish to $73.00. and i'd like to draw your attention to. section 9 dash 202. and again this is the public recording of police activities. providing employees guidance with dealing with members of the public record i'm sorry yes it is. and generally this informs officers that unless you're being obstructive people get to record you yes even if you don't like it that is where and how long has this been a policy of m.p.t. since may of 2016. thank you.

sir are you familiar with the concept of deescalation yes what is deescalation. deescalation is providing. a knowledge base or skills in this case for officers to really focus on. time options and resources it's really primarily trying to provide an opportunity to stabilize the situation and to deescalate it and with the goal is having it's a safe and peaceful outcome and and so that there's tools associated with that but that's really the goal of deescalation time options and resources that we can stabilize the situation peacefully and safely and you think of deescalation are you thinking of it as the sort of the opposite of using force or is it

a part of using force. we teach it as well. you know when you started with the department back in 1909 was there an emphasis on deescalation it was not mention. were there when did deescalation start becoming more of a topic of conversation want for some communities. i think that right around. late ninety's 2000 i think that when. we were. when there was a tension not only in minneapolis but in departments across the country in incidents particularly involving police encounters with those who were suffering from mental illness we really started to see a lot of work on that. here locally. foundation there was a very tragic incident minneapolis many years ago. that involved the death of

a community member but when we started that was really kind of culminated for our department deescalation and even when you heard department starting to talk about other tools like tasers all of these types of things it was around that time frame that i think our department really started getting a lot more education awareness and training as relates to the escalation what about just you know even if you weren't taught deescalation formally when you started back in 1990 as a practical matter in practice is that something that's been employed by experienced police officers for a long time now is this is what about in your own experience when you were on patrol. did you use deescalation techniques yes quite a bit yes did you find them to be effective a way to maybe talk somebody down from a situation in a situation rather than needing to use force yes and with the primary goal is it

you know you want to keep. yourself safe as an officer and you also want to keep the community safe and so a lot of it hinged on communication and listening and verbal skills and so. if you could talk your way out of a situation to deescalate where didn't have to result in physical force those are things you certainly utilized in you were always in a better position to look upon someone that you worked with who was who had that skill set to do that but if you can't talk. somebody out of the situation if you can't deescalate you can't right and you have to then use a different method that is true. and so it really comes to what's reasonable at the time is right it. does minneapolis police department currently have a deescalation policy we do and at this time if i can just. exhibit.

it. you got this one ok. i think it is in that i just let me show you ok yes if we could publish exhibit 219. then minneapolis police department policy 5 dash 304 threatening the use of force and deescalation this is the policy and it's a policy as it existed made 252020 that right there is for. if we could highlight the 1st paragraph paragraph a threatening the use of force. and i'd like you sir to please just read into the record the paragraph that you see here. all the way up until the i guess the 1st sentence make you read the whole thing. as an

alternative and or the precursor to the actual use of force m.p.t. officers shall consider virtually announcing their intent to use force including displaying and authorize a weapon as a threat of force when reasonable under the circumstances. in. yes it is an either or alternative is that you either deescalate or use force and once you start using force you just give up on the escalation. the goal. is to resolve the situation as safely as possible so you want to always have deescalation . layered into those actions of using force. and if you can take that down and high late paragraph b. deescalation.

in accordance with the policy. officers. language here is mandatory when reasonable whenever reasonable shall use deescalation tactics to gain voluntary compliance is that right gives and to seek to avoid or to minimize the use of physical force cracked and seeking to minimize physical force that can be happening while physical force is being employed can't it is an officer could be using physical force and during the course of that still maintain attempts to deescalate diffuse the situation yes. and if you can clear that please.

and is part of the deescalation of policy indicates a officers are supposed to do what. attempts to slow down or stabilize the situation so that more time options and resources are available when you talk about more time options and resources options and resources include. for example using other officers who may be at the scene yes calling for backup gives. actually you can also include seeking community's help in a situation as well. and in. employing deescalation techniques accordance in accordance with the policy the officers required to consider a number of factors regarding the subject is that right. and we're assuming here that the subject is not compliant you run into people who you know maybe don't want to comply with police officers but you can also run into people who just for

some reason are unable to do so at that moment so right gives and officers are required to consider if you could highlight be the bullets that come underneath. the officers under the minneapolis deescalation policy are required to consider whether the subject's lack of compliance is a deliberate attempt to resist or an inability is that right yes and if you could read 1st the 1st bullet is medical your medical conditions correct it is we have mental impairment. developmental disability. physical limitations some of you may just be physically unable to comply correct yes. language barrier you know city of minneapolis has a variety of people who speak of different languages someone just may not

understand it and if you're not considering that you know perhaps the situation could escalate into something greater than it would need to be it is. the last 2 bullets 1st could you read the 2nd to the last bullet you have as one of the other considerations officers should take into account is the influence of drugs or alcohol use and how so. reno the research says that people can react differently when they're under the use of alcohol. all are drugs and so. you trying to get verbal commands that if someone is under the use of alcohol or drugs or you're doing force it it may have a different reaction to them so that should be something that you should be considering. and. 1230. sir drug or alcohol use immune this context is being required that the officer

consider to determine if deescalation is appropriate it can be true that b. people some people who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol can become dangerous that is crude but isn't it also true that some people react completely different and they are not necessarily dangerous if they're under the influence of alcohol or drugs that script in fact the may not be more dangerous they may actually be more vulnerable true and it's important that the officer considers that when determining whether to go the route of force or continued force or deescalation there is. behavioral crisis is the last bullet and i'd like you to discuss what you mean by behavioral crisis. behavior crisis. of of all the bullets

sometimes that is probably the one that our men and women experience in our communities most if someone loses a job that can that can trigger a behavioral crisis if someone loses. a loved one that can trigger behavioral crisis if someone has. themselves got a worse diagnosis from their doctor that day that can trigger a behavioral crisis and so. we want our folks to take all of those things into consideration when i talk about meeting our community where they are that's probably the one that we need to really focus on and as you testified earlier the police just don't get to meet people on their very best day do they know that and the behavioral crisis as the kind you described here can in fact be a beer to compliance in would cause an inability to comply even if

not you know unintentional if you comply. that's fair is going to listen you know you know. in so the purpose of the i'm sorry of the be listing a behavioral crisis is that there's a point of consideration for law enforcement officers is what. again it's recognizing that. when we get the call from our communities it may not often be their best day and they may be experiencing something that is very traumatic. but we're going to respond but we have to take that into consideration because as i mentioned again we may be the 1st and last time they have an interaction with the minneapolis police officer and so we have to make it count that matters. would this be a good time to stop before i go to the next line i'm sorry i was trying to push it to the time that's. all right there was the general there let's break come back at

$130.00. well that courthouse in minneapolis has just gone on their lunch recess and will then reconvene shortly you've just been listening there to testimony from the daria ira donda he's minneapolis as police chief he's also the fast black police chief in minneapolis has been speaking out very forcefully about the role that police play in that community how they need to respect and protect the communities they now last year you recall shortly after george floyd's killing he acknowledged the lack of trust in the minneapolis police service saying that the system is broken acknowledging that they do need to make changes he was also the man who fired derrick shriven and the 3 police officers with him less than a day later if you are just joining us now we've been following the trial of missed a show in the form of minneapolis police officer who is accused of killing an unarmed black man george floyd last year mr sullivan is facing charges including

2nd degree murder after handcuffing floyd face down in the kneeling on his neck for nearly 9 and a half minutes in may last year and much of the prosecution questioning so far has been focused on practical training and professional standards and making sure that all of us as are accountable for knowing and following the same policies will be bringing you more on that trial live here on al-jazeera when we return but for now let's speak to alan fischer he joins us outside the courthouse in minneapolis and we've been saying this is fairly unusual for a police chief to testify against one of his own presumably chief down as one of the critical witnesses for the prosecution here. it's a big win to have him on the stand is we've said before it's an important cultural movement if you. were trials like this it is very rare for there to be breaches of what's become. one police officer will give evidence against another and here we have as one of the key witnesses for the prosecution the actual head.