DPS on de-escalation training: We already do that

Among the settlement terms leaked to the press in the Sandra Bland case this week was a statement that the Texas Department of Public Safety would provide de-escalation training for current and future troopers.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Waller County agreed to the terms, including shelling out $1.8 million, on Wednesday. In an emailed press release, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said the county will be "increasing the training and education of jail employees in respect to mental health assessments in jail and improving our policies and processes."

Another $100,000 is said to be forthcoming from the Texas Department of Public Safety, although spokesman Tom Vinger says that DPS hasn't settled and is not a party to any agreements between the plaintiffs and Waller County.

Technically, DPS isn't a party, since the lawsuit named Trooper Brian Encinia, who was terminated earlier this year and faces a perjury charge. So how could they be responsible for any settlement terms?

Cannon Lambert, Geneva Reed-Veal's lead attorney, said DPS will be paying Encinia's piece of the settlement, and in a phone call, said the training agreement was true despite DPS' statement. "It's just one of the things that Ms. Geneva was very interested to see happen. Obviously she knows she can't get Sandy back, but there are things she can impact going forward," Lambert said. He said DPS agreed to implementing deescalation training taught by a third-party both in the field and for new recruits.

"We understood that it would be done very soon," Lambert said, adding that better deescalation tactics would have kept Bland out of the Waller County Jail, where she later died.

But according to Vinger, new recruits already get training on deescalation. He also said that "earlier this year," DPS began requiring troopers to complete an 8-hour deescalation course - provided by the Texas Police Association, a third-party.

When told about DPS' comment, Lambert said, "That's not what they conveyed to us." He also said that the agreement was that DPS was willing to "look at the circumstances and change what they are doing." Lambert is pleased that deescalation training will be enhanced, saying, "I just wish they'd have done this a year and a half ago."

[From 9/18/16 Grits post: Policy folks seeking more background on deescalation training and policies should check out the Police Executive Research Forum's "Guiding Principles on Use of Force" (pdf, 136 pages).]

RELATED: From the Texas Tribune, "DPS changes in wake of Sandra Bland death in dispute."