(violin and piano music)
(cello music)
- When you become a commissioned officer,
you're gonna have more power,
as an individual, than the President
or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
to deprive somebody of their freedom,
and in the most extreme circumstance,
their life.
When you go out into the community,
you represent
the absolute cornerstone of democracy.
It's a pretty heavy responsibility,
but it's also a tremendous honor.
(piano and violin music)
When I joined the sheriff's office
in 1979, there was just a handful
of women in policing.
I rose through the ranks,
started out in patrol,
and after 25 years, I ran for sheriff
and was elected two terms to be
the sheriff in King County.
When I was involved in investigations
involving excessive use of force,
the answers I was getting
from the deputies bothered me.
What I kept hearing is,
this is how we're trained at the academy.
The focus was on get in quickly,
give a person a command,
and if they don't respond,
you physically force them to do that.
That bothered me, and I thought,
that doesn't reflect the way good cops
handle confrontations in the street.
- The academy was obviously
a lot different back then.
The overall attitude was more of
a militaristic-type academy.
It was a lot of barking commands.
It was a different culture.
What Sue's doing here at the academy
is, I think, we're just getting
back to the foundation of what
our mission is, actually as a police officer.
You're a warrior, but you're primarily
a guardian.
You're there to help people.
Many members of the community
see the police as soldiers coming
into their community, and if police officers
see themselves as guardians, and they're
behaving as a protector rather
than a conqueror, I think that will
go a long ways to building those bridges.
In 2012, we started implementing
a lot of these changes.
There was quite a bit of skepticism.
- She's encountered resistance.
She's encountered people who have
questioned her motives.
She has been insulted.
What Sue is saying is,
how about if we approach people as people?
How about if we use some common courtesy
and dignity in the way we approach somebody?
What Sue is doing is trying to change
that dynamic with training,
with culture,
and by getting police to understand
we are not occupiers of this community.
- We started focusing on
the Constitution, putting a high value
on the ability to communicate,
to demonstrate compassion without
appearing to be weak.
- Atom one report of a suspicious female.
- All right, I see you have a knife, okay?
I see you have some blood on your wrists.
Listen, we're here to help you.
- [Sue] A guardian describes
the multi-dimensional police officer,
still having all the warrior skills
but also giving officers a lot more
tools to build the rapport,
to build the trust,
to build the support.
We really focused on making our
physical training, our firearms training,
more challenging, and giving the recruits
a lot more experience so they would exude
that natural confidence.
- Cops have a tendency to look at
everything through the eyes
of security, not through the eyes
of freedom.
We sometimes lose that balance.
- With liberty and justice for all.
- [Russ] We only take one oath, and that's
to the Constitution.
We take an oath to protect the rights
of all citizens.
- I really wanted to reinforce
to the recruits, you are serving a higher purpose.
This is not just a job.
You are a patriot.
The core of your mission
is to uphold the Constitution.
(applause)
Here at the academy, we're training
the guardians of democracy.
33 years in the sheriff's office
was my training and preparation
for what I'm doing now.
We're training our recruits to be good cops.
To be the good guys.
- Open your hands, passenger.
- [Sue] My vision is for every child
in this country, when they see
a police car, I want their reaction
to be, the good guys are here.
For me, that would be nirvana.
(violin music)
- Clear?
Clear.