Neighbor News
Open Letter to GA General Assembly
40 HRS CIT as 'Core Mandate' for all GA Law Enforcement Academies
Open Letter to GA General Assembly,
Dear Legislators,
With regard to the recent social unrest, I would like to share two courses of action to ensure substantive systemic change thereby 'bridging the gap' between police and community, especially with regard to implicit bias, mental illness, crisis intervention, and police use of force.
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First, I posit passage of a GA General Assembly statute mandating all POST/GPSTC Accredited Police Academies, matriculating POST Certified LEO's, provide AT LEAST 40 Hours of Crisis Intervention Training as a 'CORE MANDATE' within its curriculum would help ensure a paradigm shift in police culture. CIT saves lives. And perhaps time for this legislation is finally at hand.
Second, the Cobb County Crisis Intervention Team (C3IT) Multi-Disciplinary Multi-Jurisdiction Meeting in partnership with the Behavioral Health Group (part of Cobb2020 and Live Healthy Douglas Coalitions) might be used as a model for legislatively mandated replication throughout the state as well.
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Please note, GA Attorney General Chris Carr ...'all but' ...endorsed the county's total community & crisis intervention engagement model (C3IT) for replication throughout all jurisdictions within the state this past November. Collective impact and use of inclusive innovative strategies is the clarion call for our communities.
I believe the time for serious discussion & debate on these two legislation items is at hand. As such, I suggest pursuing these 2 legislative efforts would be fair ... balanced ...and legal ...hence, ethical. And ...that is the standard we all should strive for. As such, perhaps this legislation can be considered for sponsorship so as to be 'pre-filed' for next year's legislative session.
If you have any questions or concerns about this proposed legislation please contact me at your earliest convenience with questions and/or concerns.
Yours in Service,
Stephen M. George Jr., MPA
Candidate, GA General Assembly House District 41
