National Criminal Justice Training Center offers free police relations webinar series

GREENVILLE, Wis. (WBAY) - Since George Floyd’s death in May, protests nationwide have called for a change in police relations with communities of color.

Now, many in law enforcement are trying to find ways to improve those relationships.

“This has certainly been one of the most popular programs, both of the webinars, that we’ve launched to date,” said Aaron Tomlinson, a Program Director with the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC) of Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC).

NCJTC launched a series of webinars in light of current national conversation. The free online courses, offered nationwide, will take a deeper look at police and community relations, how tensions got to where they are now, and ways to move forward and improve those relationships.

“Now is the time. We want to contribute positively and proactively to improving police community relations and community relations as a whole,” said Tomlinson.

Tomlinson says two of the webinars in the series, “Multiculturalism and Police: Understanding the Fragile Relationship with Communities of Color” and “Understanding Implicit and Explicit Bias”, have each gained more than 2,700 enrollments so far.

“I think it speaks to the demand of A, the programs and B, people’s interest in actually getting involved in these and improving relationships in the community,” said Tomlinson.

Tomlinson says in all the discussion around policing of late, he has noticed some similar priorities on all sides.

“It’s been about training, it’s been about education, it’s been about understanding, it’s been about conversation,” said Tomlinson. The great thing about the National Criminal Justice Training Center is we have the associates, we have the training staff, we have the curriculums, we have the programs to lead those conversations.”

Tomlinson hopes the conversations during the webinars will create positive change during this important and highly emotional time.

“That’s what we’re supporting. We’re supporting, rather than just emotional response, good logical application of training and best practice, and actual steps that communities can take to move forward together to have a proactive relationship, a strong relationship,” said Tomlinson. “Really just taking every proactive step possible nationally to improve relationships everyday.”

Registration is still open for the courses. The training is geared toward criminal justice professionals, but anyone is welcome to sign up and attend.

To learn more about “Multiculturalism and Police: Understanding the Fragile Relationship with Communities of Color” CLICK HERE.

To learn more about “Understanding Implicit and Explicit Bias” CLICK HERE.

For a full list of all upcoming training webinars and courses, CLICK HERE.

Copyright 2020 WBAY. All rights reserved.