From November 7 to November 26, the Redefining Policing to Affirm and Instill Human Rights (REPAIR) program of the Auschwitz Institute led the Trauma-Informed Policing course for the Tempe, AZ, police department. The course welcomed personnel from the department, including Assistant Chiefs, from diverse backgrounds who work in various capacities and divisions, including training, internal affairs, and more. The training included the standard REPAIR modules and curriculum, as well as the new module focused on Trauma-Informed Policing.
The Tempe Police are a department of approximately 480 sworn and unsworn personnel. In addition to implementing the general leadership course, on November 9, AIPG led an in-person Training of Trainers event for 11 personnel. During the training, local Holocaust survivor Marion Weinzweig generously shared her and her family’s story of surviving the Opatow ghetto in Poland.
The REPAIR program is the Auschwitz Institute’s US law enforcement-specific, human and civil rights training. Designed in collaboration with the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, the REPAIR program is designed formid-level command/leadership staff, and then trains those command staff to administer the program in-house to non-leadership personnel. This model allows for not only the dissemination of the program’s valuable lessons on community policing, implicit bias, and the history of policing, but also the creation of a partnership between AIPG and the department.
The new Trauma-Informed Policing course is a 3-week virtual program that covers the issues of policing in traumatized communities and those of officer wellness and safety. AIPG created this program to address the serious conversations surrounding officer trauma and issues such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As training partners with police departments, AIPG also works with them to showcase the various wellness programs and resources available within their departments.