The topic of his discussion was “Challenges of Policing in Diverse Communities.”

Dixon acknowledged that the country “Has been in a difficult place for the last couple years,” citing conflicts between police and the Black and Brown communities. He said that ongoing challenges have resulted in a lack of trust between officers and the people they serve.

Originally, police officers were meant to be “peace officers,” or ones who kept the peace in communities they knew and lived in. Peace officers once served their friends and neighbors, but Dixon said that idea has been lost.

Now, officers are often emotionally disconnected from their communities and must undergo unconscious bias training. Although beneficial, Elmer believes that unconscious bias training alone will serve as an excuse for biased behavior. Training must go beyond; equipping officers with the tools and tactics they need to understand differing conflict styles and de-escalate high intensity situations.

In order to shift the dynamic that has been built over time, Elmer Dixon declares that there needs to be a change in how officers respond and react to citizens in Black and Brown communities. He states, “We have developed a series of steps and strategies that officers can employ right away.”

The training is based on Dr. Mitch Hammer’s Inter-cultural Conflict Inventory, and Dixon will be sharing more about it Wednesday, August 17th, 2016 at the Midwest Security Conference in Illinois via Facebook Live.