DANVILLE (WSLS 10) - Members of law enforcement from across Virginia are learning how to effectively police in the 21st century.
A nationwide training program took place on Wednesday in Danville thanks to the state's attorney general's office.
About two dozen members of the law enforcement community from across the region are participating in the training being offered at the Institute for Advanced Research and Learning.
The program is designed to help officers overcome their natural biases. While this training has been in place for years, one coordinator says it is more important now than ever.
"What this study shows is that participants shot a white armed man slower than they shot a black armed man," said one of the trainers as he presented one of the numerous studies.
The studies are used to show that members of law enforcement, like all humans, are biased and that their biases, whether they realize it or not, affect the way they do their job.
That awareness is the first step in the training program.
"I think it's important to show that there's a science behind that. It doesn't make us bad people, it just makes us human," said trainer and Illinois State Police Lt. Col. Joann Johnson.
The trainers help officers work to overcome their natural biases.
"We do that through contact theory and counter-stereotype theory," she explained.
Gary Reynolds, deputy sheriff and a police consultant for the city of Lynchburg, says he recognizes that the world has changed a lot over the past few years and is glad to have an opportunity to receive this training.
"Particularly in the past few weeks where we've lost officers in the line of duty, we as a profession have to stop and take a look at what are we doing and are there areas for improvement," he said.
He hopes that as more members of law enforcement undergo this training, the violence that has taken place over the past few weeks in places like Dallas, Baton Rouge and Minneapolis will decrease.
But, he also argues that law enforcement officers are not the root cause of all of the violence.
"I submit that we are not the problem in our country, but we certainly have an obligation to do everything we can do better as well as help other people do better," Reynolds emphasized.
A philosophy that is slowly but surely catching on across the country.
The training program will continue on Thursday.