Missouri 2022 Lesson Summaries
2022 Lesson 22: Mental Illness
Interpersonal
Release Date:
8/1/2022
This is an online interpersonal perspectives course designed to assist Missouri police in handling persons with mental illness. The lesson explores why the issue of mental illness is important to the law enforcement community, by examining the prevalence of mental illness in the United States population and specific encounters between persons with mental disorders and law enforcement officers. The lesson examines the symptoms of various mental disorders, including depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hoarding disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and personality disorders. The lesson provides detailed tips for recognizing a person with mental illness and guidelines for interacting with or handling persons with mental illness. Finally, the lesson explains Missouri’s involuntary detention procedures.
2022 Lesson 21: Bloodborne Pathogens
Technical
Release Date:
6/1/2022
This is an online technical skills course designed to assist law enforcement officers who may reasonably be anticipated to have skin, eye, mucous membrane, or parenteral contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials resulting from the performance of their employment duties. Sections 1 and 2 explain what bloodborne pathogens are, how they are spread, and how law enforcement officers might be exposed to them. It examines the symptoms, routes of transmission, and treatment options for hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and HIV/AIDs.
Section three examines how officers can protect themselves from infection through the hepatitis B virus vaccination. It examines an employer’s duty to provide personal protective equipment (PPE), how to select appropriate PPE, accessing PPE, putting on PPE, and removing PPE. It also examines precautions officers should take when they anticipate that they may be exposed to PPE. The lesson discusses the use of appropriate containers and labels for blood and OPIM.
Section four addresses decontaminating clothing and areas that become contaminated with blood or OPIM, disposing of PPE, handwashing, emergency needlestick and splash protocols, keeping a sharps injury log, medical evaluations, and state confidentiality laws. Section 5 addresses exposure control plans.
2022 Lesson 20: Ethics
Interpersonal
Release Date:
4/1/2022
This is an online interpersonal perspectives course focused on law enforcement ethics. It explains general principles of ethics in law enforcement, provides an example of a police codes of conduct, and explores the detrimental effects of the code of silence. It defines terms commonly used in an examination of police ethics, including: appearance of impropriety, bribe, gift, corruption, and Garrity Rights. It explains when Missouri law prohibits public employees from accepting gifts or certain payments. The lesson describes the Missouri disciplinary process applicable to law enforcement officers and provides examples of actual cases of police misconduct heard by the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission.
The lesson examines the obligation of law enforcement officers to provide fair treatment under law, while also addressing the challenging environment faced by law enforcement officers. The lesson reviews common types of police misconduct and provides actual examples from recent cases.
Finally, the lesson examines the consequences of police misconduct for the community, for individual officers, and for law enforcement agencies.
2022 Lesson 19: Sexual Harassment
Interpersonal
Release Date:
2/1/2022
This online sexual harassment lesson for police. It defines what conduct constitutes sexual harassment and explains the difference between quid pro quo and hostile environment sexual harassment. The lesson explores the role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Missouri Commission on Human Rights in sexual harassment cases. The lesson defines retaliation and provides examples of retaliatory conduct. The lesson explains when an employer may be held liable for sexual harassment committed by an employee and what an employer can do to avoid or limit liability. The lesson explains where and how to file a sexual harassment complaint and what damages may be available for victims of harassment. Finally, the lesson provides tips for what individuals who experience or witness sexual harassment can do.
2022 Lesson 14: Officer-Involved Shootings: Law, Human Factors & Investigations – Part 2
Technical
Release Date:
9/1/2022
This is part 2 of a two-part course designed to provide Missouri law enforcement officers with a better understanding of the law and agency policy governing the use of force decisions, human factors that affect an officer’s use of force, and the administrative and criminal investigations of an officer’s use of force, with a focus on officer-involved shootings.
Section six addresses the immediate aftermath of an officer-involved shooting. It provides checklists for officers regarding their responsibilities towards the suspect and scene preservation. It explains what a “public safety statement” is and why officers may be asked to provide one. It also addresses the responsibilities of backup officers and supervisors in the immediate aftermath of a shooting.
Section seven addresses criminal investigations of officer-involved shootings. It describes the role and responsibilities of the investigator. It explains which officer statements are likely to be admissible in which proceedings. It also explores whether officers should review video of an incident before providing an official statement.
Section eight addresses administrative investigations of officer-involved shootings. It explains how statements an officer makes under threat of discharge may and may not be used. It also explains an officer’s due process rights during an administrative investigation. Finally, it considers actual examples of administrative investigations of law enforcement officers.
Section nine examines the role of the defense attorney.
Section ten provides a case study of a Missouri police officer’s use of deadly force and the investigation that followed. It shows how the issues addressed in prior sections of this lesson applied in this case, including: applicable criminal statutes; agency policy regarding shooting at moving vehicles; how human factors could have affected the involved officer; the officer’s actions in the immediate aftermath of the shooting; why the officer’s statements may have differed from the physical evidence; and which officer statements were admissible.
2022 Lesson 13: Officer-Involved Shooting Law, Human Factors & Investigations – Part 1
Legal
Release Date:
9/1/2022
This is part 1 of a two-part course designed to provide Missouri law enforcement officers with a better understanding of the law and agency policy governing the use of force decisions, human factors that affect an officer’s use of force, and the administrative and criminal investigations of an officer’s use of force, with a focus on officer-involved shootings.
Section one explains the criminal statutory framework in Missouri that affects police use of force decisions. It examines the elements of various murder, manslaughter, and assault offenses. It also examines the legal justifications for using deadly force available to law enforcement officers and to the public.
Section two addresses federal criminal statutes guiding use of force decisions, specifically the elements of “deprivation of rights under color of law.”
Section three addresses civil law that guides law enforcement officer use of force decisions, including guidance from the United States Supreme Court in Graham v. Connor and Tennessee v. Garner. It examines Missouri’s requirement that an employing law enforcement agency defend and indemnify an officer who is sued in civil court for conduct that arose in the course and scope of the officer’s employment.
Section four addresses the role of department policy in use of force decisions. It examines several areas where Missouri law enforcement agency policies may place greater restrictions on a law enforcement officer’s use of force than the restrictions imposed under state and federal law.
Section five addresses human factors that may affect use of force decisions and an officer’s memories surrounding use of force incidents. It examines misconceptions about perception and memory. It explains how stress and trauma can affect human performance.