my name is shawn smoot. i'm the director and chief counselor for the police benevolent protection association of illinois and treasurer of the national police associations. i join my colleagues in welcoming all of you to the task force meeting today. i am very grateful for the opportunity to serve on the task force with this esteemed group of experts, and very grateful to the president for convening this task force, because i think it's something that needed to happen, and frankly, is overdue. i think it's very fitting that today we're going to have our last full day of public listening session on officer wellness and safety. and because we've heard so much over the past several weeks in terms of testimony with regard to the challenges facing law enforcement officers and communities around this country, i think it's very fitting that we have a day dedicated to officers' wellness and safety and the impact of officers' wellness on their families also, because those things, really, i think, make the challenges

my name is shawn smoot. i'm director and chief counselor for the police benevolent protection association of illinois and the national police associations. i join my colleagues in welcoming all of you to the task force meeting today and i am very grateful for the opportunity to serve on the task force with this esteemed group of experts, and very grateful to the president for convening this task force because i think it's something that needed to happen, and frankly, is overdue. i think it's very fitting that today we're going to have our last full day of public listening session on officer wellness and safety. and because we've heard so much over the past several weeks in terms of testimony with regard to the challenges facing law enforcement officers and communities around this country, i think it's very fitting that we have a day dedicated to officers' wellness and safety and the impact of officers' wellness on their families also. because those things really i think, make the challenges even greater and

shawn smoot. >> i'd like to first of shawn smoot? >> thank you to the panel for the testimony this afternoon. and thank you all who were able to travel to be with us. and chief, thank you for making the effort to skype in with us online. you know, it seems to me sitting here and listening to the testimony of the last several days we've heard, but especially this morning you know, in the united states, unions have been at the forefront of creating safe workplaces developing safety initiatives, implementing wellness plans for their members and specifically in policing unions have played a huge role in engaging the community in terms of p.a.l.s and other outreach programs that are supported by police associations and unions. so i wonder, and this question is for the panel. but it seems obvious to me in states that don't have collective bargaining for police officers, that might be something that we would recommend. and so i'm curious to know if you think that would be a good idea, or not. >> speaking on behalf of the order of police as

connie rice followed by shawn smoot. >> thank you. all three of you. moving and salient testimony. real quick. you've given us a lot of suggestions. could you prioritize them for me? i mean everything from training resources, cops who are fluent in the community who are there, race studies. you've given us a real range of -- could you just the top two, each of you? if we had to limit it. >> it needs to be beyond our politician forces. it needs to take place systematic throughout our society. i know when i was in my early 20s as a privileged white kid from the suburbs and assume that because i grew up in a family that supported civil rights struggles that i was anti-racist. and i realize how much i am a child of white privilege. that ongoing kind of training is incredibly -- changes world views and is incredibly important for all of us. so, i hope that that can become systematic throughout our police forces. >> thank you. real quick. a re-ee valuevaluation of current training and just on the system i would think system accountability. i would say to incentivize quality police work.