Baltimore Police Undergo Training To Improve High-Stress Response

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Repairing community distrust. Baltimore Police Department officers are undergoing training that will help them improve how they respond to high-stress situations like the Freddie Gray case.

Christie Ileto has more on how this program works.

It teaches officers to approach these situations differently---without bias and looking at everything in seconds.

Baltimore police trainees are the first class ever to go through Cognitive Command Training, or C2, a program aimed to help officers make sound decisions in a high-stress environment---focusing on these words on how to handle those situations.

"Because when officers go into certain volatile situations, we don't want a knee-jerk reaction," said Paul Banach.

This program comes months after 25-year-old Freddie Gray died from injuries he received while in police custody and the April riots that sparked following his passing.

A frequent complaint in Baltimore is that officers treat African-American residents as criminals.

"I believe it's very beneficial," said police trainee Andrew Definbaugh.

Definbaugh has been on the force for 16 months.

"If we're able to process information faster, it will help us engage with the community better, understanding what their needs are instead of what I immediately see," he said.

A training that will be used to repair the chronic mistrust between the community and the department.

The training for the program will last for 26 weeks.

In November, the police department started training to address racial biases that could taint the way they deal with residents.