Police officials say training key to avoiding conflicts

JONESBORO — The key to avoiding situations like the one in Mulberry where law enforcement officers were recorded striking a suspect is a high level of training, according to local officials.

Jonesboro Police Chief Rick Elliott and Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd said their officers undergo rigorous continued training. “Obviously, it was extreme and excessive,” Elliott said Wednesday of the Mulberry incident.

A bystander’s video of 27-year-old Randal Worcester’s arrest on Sunday in the small town of Mulberry sparked outrage after it was posted online. All three officers were later suspended, and state and federal authorities have opened criminal investigations into their actions. It’s the latest case in which increasingly omnipresent cameras have led to consequences for officers and raised questions about what level of force police are justified in using and when.

An Arkansas sheriff’s deputy was caught in the video repeatedly punching and kneeing Worcester in the head before grabbing his hair and slamming him against the pavement. As that was happening, another officer was holding Worcester down as a third also kneed him over and over.

“We know things happen,” Elliott said. “It’s training problems.

“We all get a black eye over things like this.”

Elliott and Boyd said smaller police and sheriff’s departments in the state don’t have the same resources or manpower to do enhanced training programs as their departments do.

“It’s tough for smaller agencies,” Boyd said.

“You have to rely on training,” he said. “We have mandatory training and also monthly training.

“Law enforcement has thousands of interactions every day without things like this happening.”

Elliott said JPD has a policy that if an officer who calls for backup is having a problem subduing a suspect, the responding backups will take over the situation so the initial officer can have a cooling off period.

He said it’s a departmental policy that if an officer sees a fellow officer using excessive force he must intervene to stop the actions. He said the policy was initiated prior to it becoming a national law enforcement policy.

Elliott said at JPD if an officer points a Taser or gun at a suspect it’s considered “use of force.” Any use of force is reviewed by the department’s Administrative Division to determine if it was necessary.

According to The Associated Press, state records show that Thell Riddle, the Mulberry police officer involved in the incident, was fired in 2008 from the police department in the nearby town of Kibler after just six months on the job for being involved in a “domestic disturbance” when a woman claimed he hit her in the eye. Riddle was not charged. The records from the state Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training, first reported Monday by the Arkansas Advocate, also show that Riddle resigned from the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office after nearly eight years in 2008 because of “personal conflicts.”

Boyd said one of the policies implemented by the Governor’s Task Force on Law Enforcement recently made it easier to move officers with tainted records out of law enforcement.

He said some states have policies that make it almost impossible to decertify law enforcement officers.

Elliott said way too often bad police officers simply move to another department.

He and Boyd said they screen applicants well to ensure new hires aren’t simply jumping to a new department to escape a checkered past.

Elliott said if a complaint is lodged against an officer an investigation takes place within the department. If an officer receives several complaints, they’re sent to complete additional training if the infractions aren’t severe.

The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office has requested an investigation by the Arkansas State Police into the incident in Mulberry.