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Nixon calls for new police training standards

Saint Louis, Mo. — Gov. Jay Nixon is asking POST and the Missouri Department of Public Safety to “update and enhance” training for law enforcement officers in Missouri just days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of Michael Brown that sparked waves of anti-police brutality protests in the St. Louis area.

The Peace Officer Standards Training Commission oversees the standards of training for police across Missouri. Nixon is asking POST and the Department of Public Safety to have new rules by Dec. 1 of this year to “improve access to effective and ongoing training in the key areas of tactical training, fair and impartial policing, and the health and well-being of officers.”

“The brave men and women of law enforcement put their lives on the line every day to protect us and keep our streets safe,” Nixon said in a statement. “We owe it to them – and the citizens they serve — to provide our law enforcement officers with the knowledge and training they need to keep themselves and their communities safe.”

Nixon also made five new appointments to the POST commission.

Rev. Emanuel Cleaver III of St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City was appointed as the commission’s public member. Paul Williams, Chief of the Springfield Police Department, Charles “Drew” Juden III, Sikeston Department of Public Safety Director, Edward Clark, a detective with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and Jeffery Hughley, a supervisor for the gang unit squad with the Kansas City Police Department, were all appointed to the commission today as well.

The commission currently has Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol — who gained both positive and negative attention as Nixon’s “point man” on the ground during much of the Ferguson unrest — chairs the commission alongside Diane Scanga, Director of Jefferson College Law Enforcement Academy, Cass County Sheriff Dwight Diehl, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, Livingston County Sheriff Stephen Cox and Riverside Police Chief Gregory Mills.

State law requires the POST Commission must include three police chiefs; three sheriffs, one member representing a state law enforcement agency; two members who are peace officers at or below the rank of sergeant employed by a political subdivision; one member who is a chief executive officer of a certified training academy; and one public member.

In forming new standards, POST will have public hearings around the state.