Defying Demands Of Mayor Frey, Police Union President Announces Free 'Warrior' Training For Officers
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Following Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's banning of "fear-based, warrior style" training for Minneapolis police, an online training program will be offered free to all Minneapolis police officers.
On Wednesday, the exclusive partnership was announced between "Law Officer" and the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis to provide the training. Law Officer training includes officer survival, leadership, fitness, deescalation and emergency vehicle operations.
The offering of the free training will continue for the remainder of Frey's term.
Director of training for Law Officer, Travis Yates, says the training is valued at $55,000 each year and will provide relevant training each day of the week via phone app and private website.
"It is both an honor and privilege to provide the heroes of the Minneapolis Police Department daily training that can ensure they will return home each day to their family regardless of the dangers that they may face and the ignorance of some politicians," Yates said in a statement.
The president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, Lt. Bob Kroll, thanked Law Officer for defying the demands of Mayor Frey and providing the training.
"Law Officer brings our officers state of the art warrior training that we are proud to embrace and while it seems that the lives of our officers are not important to politicians, they certainly are by Law Officer and we are grateful for this partnership," Kroll said.
In response to the training announcement, Mayor Frey released a statement.
"We have adopted this new policy because proper training on use of force and de-escalation is of paramount importance. Officers found to pursue any training that conflicts with MPD's training and has not been preapproved will be subject to discipline," Frey said.
Frey's policy change, which was effective Thursday, April 18, will require Minneapolis police officers to obtain approval from Chief Medaria Arradondo or his administration to pursue external use-of-force or deescalation training.
Minneapolis Police Public Information Officer John Elder released a statement Wednesday evening on behalf of the department.
"The new training policy was enacted to ensure that officers only receive training on use of force and deescalation that is consistent with the carefully developed training provided by the Minneapolis Police Department. The policy just requires pre-approval for external trainings on these topics to make sure there is not a conflict. The MPD encourages and supports training for its staff that encompasses officer and community safety based on procedurally just methodology," Elder said.