The State Center Community College District Board of Trustees unanimously voted on Tuesday to develop a Fresno City College Police Academy Review Task Force.
The task force will review the academy – one of the largest full-service law enforcement training facilities in California – and submit various recommendations for change.
“Serving on both the City’s Police Reform Commission and the FCC Police Academy Review Task Force makes sense when you consider as trustees, we oversee the entry point of the funnel that begins the training process for future police officers,” said Trustee Annalisa Perea in a statement.
“Our review of the academy will be the philosophy and methods used by our instructors to not only ensure that cadets are trained to POST standards (California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training) but as importantly that they are trained to handle and de-escalate situations that they are faced with.”
According to a press release from Perea, the task force will recommend actions that expand “implicit and explicit racial bias awareness” as well as understanding of community policing efforts for the college to add to the program.
The task force will also make recommendations to enhance the academy’s “program content on race-relations and social justice.”
The task force will provide the president’s office with a recommendation report within 45-60 days of the last task force convening.
