LAPD retraining all 10,000 officers in use of force

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Police Department announced Monday that all 10,000 of its officers will attend a one-day retraining course focused on topics such as use of force and engaging with those who are mentally ill.

The move comes after months of protests over the fatal shooting of Ezell Ford, who was killed in August 2014 during an altercation with two LAPD officers. Ford's family has previously said that the 25-year-old was mentally ill.

"To my knowledge, we've never shut down the divisions one after another and had a single focused area of training like we have at this time," LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.

The class begins at one division next week before rolling out to all 21 geographic areas of Los Angeles. It will discuss mental health issues, clarify what police tactics are constitutional and offer techniques to build trust with the community.

"We want to make sure we have our officer's trained as best we can, so they go out there and constitutionally police and build those partnerships," Smith said.

In addition, Smith adds that newer officers will be retrained after the first, third and fifth year in their careers.

"We're going to bring them back to the Academy and we're going to make sure that now that they've had some real world experience, they can go over all the things we wanted them to learn in the Academy," Smith said.

Ford's family attorney Federico Sayer said it's a move in the right direction. The Ford family has filed a $75 million claim against the city and a federal civil rights lawsuit against the department and the two officers who shot him.

"Unfortunately, it's not going to help Ezell Ford, but maybe it will help other black men and other Hispanic men," Sayer said.

Last month, Los Angeles Police Department's Police Commission, a civilian board that oversees the LAPD, said one officer involved in the shooting violated department policy. At the time, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck suggested it was in line with policy.

On Monday, a federal magistrate ruled that Beck will be forced to give a deposition about that in the civil case, something the chief was fighting in court.

"The chief of police is like any other human being. He has to tell truth and he has to sit for a deposition just like you and I," Sayer said.

Smith said Beck may have been opposed because of his workload.

"If he submitted to a deposition in every case that somebody wants the chief of police to come talk, he wouldn't have any time to be the chief of police," Smith said.