Officers Share Lessons Learned At Conference Of Police Chiefs

This is the first year Scarber has been chief of the Snowflake-Taylor Police Department, and he gave one sergeant of his department the opportunity to attend the conference.

“This was great exposure, especially for our department, to get out in the world and meet other people dealing with different things throughout the world,” said Sgt. Derick Ortiz, who accompanied Scarber. He noted that it’s rare for a rural police department and someone like himself to experience this.

“I can’t express enough how important it is, especially for our agency, to get more exposure of these kinds of situations and learn from a lot of people, people all around the world,” said Ortiz.

Scarber is the outgoing secretary of Indian Country Law Enforcement, serving as tribal liaison with the Department of Public Safety for the past 15 years.

There were world class instructors at the conference said the chief, noting that he and Ortiz attended different classes so they could learn as much as possible from the conference.

“We wanted to get as much bang for our buck as we could,” said Scarber, noting that the only speaker they both heard was Gordon Graham, who retired from the California Highway Patrol. “He’s a dynamic speaker,” covering common sense ideas that will reduce the risk for officers and make them safer.

Over the years speakers have included the U.S. Attorney General, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secretary of Homeland Security. This was the first year a sitting President of the United States attended the conference in 20 years.

“I believe he had some good ideas that we can all do to better our relations,” said Sgt. Ortiz of President Barack Obama’s speech. “He is correct in that policing is different now than it was 10 to 15 years ago, and we need to change some things to accommodate those things.”

FBI Director James Comey spoke on officers meeting people, shaking hands with them and letting the people get to know them.

“It’s hard to hate up close; get close to your police officers and you’ll feel better about who is protecting your community,” said Scarber.

Ortiz learned about violent extremism from Charles Bordeleau of the Ottawa Police Service in Canada as he spoke on things that can be done to prepare for violent extremism in our community.

Jean-Jacques Colonbi, chief of International Relations for the French National Police, discussed their experiences regarding the French standoff for terrorist attacks.

Ortiz noted that this was prior to the recent attacks in France. “His big warning was the things happening in France could be happening in America,” said the sergeant.

One of the many things that impressed Chief Scarber is not naming the person or terrorist, and he stated, “Emphasis should be on the victims or the heroes involved in ending the situation.” He said one of the fathers of a shooting victim at Columbine High School in Colorado talked about how important it is to remember the victims, not the person who did it.

Scarber and Ortiz both talked about a new drug they learned about. If administered before a person dies, it can bring that person back from an overdose of opiates. Scarber noted that the community has had four lives lost from overdose of narcotics and heroin. Ortiz pointed out that they have had three “big, big drug busts” in the last month. “We’re really trying to push harder.”

Scarber said one class featured officers or chiefs from small districts who spoke on how they responded to extreme violence and the lessons they had learned. They discussed how to provide cover and security if you are a small agency and it goes beyond your abilities to defend families.

“One of my favorite courses was social media boot camp, basically a course on how police departments need to associate and communicate with the public, communicate with the media,” said Ortiz. “It is so essential to get that information out to the public as soon as we possibly can… especially in a critical situation.”

Chief Scarber also learned about improving media relations and putting your best foot forward. He said suggestions were to put the department name out through banners for the podium and possibly an awards assembly. “I would like more of our officers trained in media relations,” said the chief.

“In addition to classes, they had an amazing exhibit hall with thousands of exhibitors that displayed new technology and ideas,” said Scarber. The items displayed included software, uniforms and more–even a helicopter.

“Some things we were targeting,” said the chief, noting that they would like to upgrade their car computers so an officer can be visible at the side of a road or in front of a school, for example, or be at their desk at the station and work on reports.

Scarber said that he ran into his former boss, a lieutenant colonel with DPS. and they talked about work. The new chief was asked about computers here and about his fleet. He said that they have three new Dodges that would be the envy of everybody, but they also have some of the worst police cars, and showed pictures of the black and white cars. The lieutenant colonel is working on giving STPD two surplus cars that have lower mileage and are equipped with everything except radios.

Scarber will continue to attend the conferences and each year will take a different sergeant with him. “I think the exposure is good,” said the chief.

“I learned so many things there that I don’t think I would have learned anywhere else,” said Ortiz.