Camden County Police Chief Helps Craft New National Policy On Police Use Of Force

Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson was one of 11 representatives from police organizations nationally who met with House Speaker Paul Ryan to craft a new national policy on Monday.

The policy incorporates the concept of de-escalation when an officer is faced with using deadly force, the Washington Post reports.

It also recommends police departments state “It is the policy of this law enforcement agency to value and preserve human life,” while also allowing for warning shots and firing at moving vehicles in certain situations, according to the report.

Thomson is the president of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), a group that implements training that relies on a different decision-making strategy than traditional police academy teaching, the county said in a statement announcing the summit over the weekend.

The training focuses on the sanctity of life for the victims and the suspects. Thomson has worked to implement a strategy that relies on community policing, according to county officials.

“I am grateful to House Speaker Ryan for his time and interest in the work that PERF (Police Executive Research Forum) and the Camden County Police Department are doing to make policing safer for officers and the community while strengthening relationships,” Thomson said in a statement following the summit. “The dialogue we had on de-escalation, community policing and guardian training was thoughtful, deliberate and straightforward, which we appreciated and expect to continue into the future. The desire for safer cities, less violence and better relationships between the police and the people transcends politics and clearly was a matter that Speaker Ryan also believes to be of significant importance in our country at this time.”

But in a letter addressed to Ryan and dated Jan. 17, Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs President Ron Hernandez called the new policy "dangerous and naive" and said they endanger the lives and safety of law enforcement officials.

"The PERF guidelines were not the product of robust debate or discussion, but instead agenda driven," Hernandez wrote in the letter, a copy of which was provided to Patch. "Those who attempted to question the guidelines before adoption were simply ignored by PERF executives who allowed no dissent to their proposals."

He said PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler refused multiple invitations to discuss the proposed guidelines with members of his association. Instead, PERF focused its message on elected officials, the media and Congress, Hernandez said.

"It is vital that organizations representing the overwhelming number of management of rank and file law enforcement who oppose the PERF guidelines be heard from before any serious consideration can be given to those guidelines," Hernandez concluded, offering to arrange a meeting between Ryan and organization leaders.

In addition to Thomson, Wexler and Ryan, those who attended the summit included New Orleans, Louisiana Chief Michael Harrison; Janesville, Wisconsin Police Chief David Moore; Burlington, Vermont Police Chief Brandon del Pozo; Tucson, Arizona Police Chief Chris Magnus; and Volusia County Florida Sheriff Mike Chitwood.

Wexler told The Journal Times that the PERF training is especially helpful in situations in which an unarmed person is having a mental health crisis. He said between 300 and 400 police-involved fatalities could’ve been prevented had the situations been handled differently.

The summit took place the same day a civil rights group blasted the Camden County Police Department as “an oppressive and brutal police force that deserves immediate federal intervention,” according to the Courier Post.

And that statement came on the same day 38-year-old Jose A. Fernandez-Ventura, of Camden, died from injuries suffered when he was shot by Camden County Police in a domestic violence incident the previous week.

In that incident, Fernandez-Ventura shot an unidentified woman who was holding an 18-month-old baby at the time. It was the first fatal police-involved shooting since 2015.

Camden County Spokesman Dan Keshean called the statement “politically charged,” and said it had no real substance and was littered with “outright fabrications,” according to nj.com. He said a total of 31 excessive force violations were filed against the department in 2016.

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