Police departments across the nation are finally feeling the pressure from protesters and the Justice Department to start implementing serious changes when it comes to the way they train their police officers.
Over the last two weeks alone, numerous protests have sparked across the globe after grand juries failed to indict Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, and officer Daniel Pantaleo, who put the Staten Island father of six Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold.
Protests calling for changes reached from Los Angeles all the way across the Atlantic to London and even sparked criticism from foreign powers including a North Korea ministry spokesperson.
With all eyes focused on the police departments, law enforcement authorities are scrambling to figure out how to respond.
In some cases, officials have suggested changes that focus on retraining officers and teaching them how to diffuse situations without using deadly force.
New York is already in the process of spending $35 million to retrain roughly 35,000 officers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Other major cities including Los Angeles and Seattle are making serious pushes for police body cameras.
These are the types of changes that New York Mayor Bill de Blasio hopes will prevent more tragedies.
“I think you are going to see a very different reality after this training has been achieved,” he said, according to Fox News. “I have no doubt that some tragedies will be averted because of this training.”
House Speaker John Boehner said he understands why the American people are so concerned about the recent tragedies and that he is also searching for answers.
“Clearly both of these are serious tragedies that we’ve seen in our society and I think the American people want to understand more of what the facts were,” Boehner said, according to Fox News. “There are a lot of unanswered questions that Americans have and frankly I have.”
The Cleveland Police Department is the latest example of the type of pressure that has been placed on police departments and the attention that is being drawn to agencies that have become known for using excessive force, especially against people of color.
The entire Cleveland Police Department will be watched closely by a third party supervisor after the department was found guilty by the Justice Department of using excessive force, especially against African Americans.
