In the wake of recent events in Minneapolis and protests throughout the country, we have received inquiries about how the Office of the Sheriff trains its employees -- particularly sworn employees -- in areas such as de-escalation techniques, bias awareness and cultural diversity. We are leaders in these areas and have taken a proactive approach to this important training for many years. In fact, I myself was a certified Cultural Diversity instructor dating back to 1997 and facilitated training as part of the "Tools For Tolerance" law enforcement training program at the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. The national discussion taking place today is important, and perhaps painful. Nonetheless, I am proud of  the over one thousand men and women of the Sheriff's Office for the excellent service they provide to our community, day in and day out. Please see below some of the critical training we provide our employees.

Thank you,

David Livingston, Sheriff-Coroner

Principled Policing - In-Service and Academy:

All sworn employees attend/have attended the 8-hour Principled Policing class.

This class is also now part of our LETC Academy Curriculum and every academy recruit receives this training prior to graduation. (click here for course outline)

Principled Policing Summary of Course - This course melds the principles of Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias in order to create a broad awareness of these two important concepts. Law enforcement can improve trust and relationships between law enforcement agencies and their communities by using these principles to evaluate their policies, procedures and training within their departments. In addition, developing an understanding of these two concepts will enable law enforcement to improve safety and well-being for the public and law enforcement alike.
 

Crisis Intervention and De-Escalation Training In-Service:

All sworn employees attend/have attended this 8-hours course as part of the 2017-18 Advanced Officer Cycle.  Employees are scheduled to attend a 4-hour update to this course as part of the 2020-21 cycle. (click here for course outline)

638 sworn employees attended the 32-hour expanded course Crisis Response for 1st Responders between July 2008 (first introduced) and September 2019.  (click here for course outline)

Also, four Defensive Tactics Instructors have been through the Train the Trainer Course on De-Escalation.  This is currently being taught to the rest of the Defensive Tactics Team and will be part of the on-going DT program.
 

In-Service Racial Diversity and Cultural Diversity Training:

POST requires Racial Diversity and Cultural Diversity training every 5 years.  This training was last conducted as part of our 2018 Advanced Officer Cycle.
 

Academy Cultural Diversity:

Every graduate of the LETC Academy receives 19 hours of Cultural Diversity training.  (click here for course outline)
 

Academy Victimology and Crisis Intervention:

Every graduate of the LETC Academy receives 6.5 hours of Victimology and Crisis Intervention training.  (click here for course outline)
 

AB392 Peace Officers - Deadly Force:

All sworn employees are currently going through this training as part of the 20/21 Advanced Officer Cycle.  We are about 50% complete with this course but had to cease due to COVID-19.  (click here for course outline)
 

In addition, the policies and procedures of the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff include:

• Equality of enforcement (being fair and impartial and without prejudice when delivering services)

• Constitutional Rights (employees shall respect and protect the rights of the public)

• Unbecoming Conduct (we must secure the public trust and our higher standard expectation of our employees)

• Crowd Control (outlines the public’s right to demonstrate and our duty to remain unbiased)