Policing Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Huntington's New Police Chief Talks Goals For Department And Tackling Opioid Epidemic

On Nov. 22, 2021, Huntington’s new police chief, Karl Colder, took the oath office, becoming the first Black police chief in the city’s history. Chief Colder served as a special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. He spoke with David Adkins to discuss the beginning of his tenure and his upcoming plans for the Huntington Police Department.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

David Adkins: Mayor Williams has said that you’re “unbelievably qualified”. He said he knew you from your work in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and that you’re a familiar face to Huntington. What is your familiarity with the city?

Chief Colder: I saw the limited resources that were afforded to West Virginia at the federal level concerning the opioid issue, being the highest overdose death rate per capita in the country. So I had to bring in resources.

Part of that responsibility was to unite with Health and Human Services, the health department, other federal, state, and local agencies, to come together to join forces in dealing with substance use disorders and the opioid epidemic.

My area of responsibility was vast at that point in time. Still, you have to have that coordination between agencies, even bringing that skill set to the federal government working with our federal partners, our state partners and even the surrounding police departments within the area, or region to deal with police issues. To deal with the drug problem.

David Adkins: Do you find that your time working as a consultant and instructor has given you insight into how best to improve upon the Huntington Police Department?

Chief Colder: Policing in general has changed, it has gone from a more, I would say, hands on approach to a more analytical approach, and so a lot of what I did in my consulting was bringing analytics tools from different companies into the federal government system for law enforcement, and even in state and local systems. So when, for example, police chiefs need to know how to dedicate their resources. Well, now with analytical tools, they can better do that job, because now they can pinpoint where problem areas are, and dedicate resources to it. So that’s where the analytics comes in. So now what took agencies and public police departments months to solve in terms of cases, or even years, could take weeks.

Right now, I could say where we’re right at the beginning to mid levels in dealing with analytics. There’s different tools that we’re using now that can put us in the forefront of that, but now working with the US Attorney’s Office, working with the Fusion Center in Charleston, creating our own fusion center, and Task Force oriented policing here in the Huntington area. That’s really important, getting agencies to deconflict, and that means sharing information, and so we have several task forces here in the Huntington surrounding area. How can we get them all at the same table at the same time, sharing information, unifying to really deal with issues and problems?

David Adkins: The Deputy Police Chief position was created within the department, and former Lt. Phil Watkins was chosen for the position. What factors went into creating the position?

Chief Colder: I think that was one of the first things that the mayor and I spoke about, early on, when I accepted the position, and one of the reasons we looked at that, we wanted to really provide administrative support to what we were doing in terms of the police department.

For example, we had one captain, who may have been responsible for community outreach, recruitment, professional standards, and really, what we wanted to do is separate that out . So now there’s direct oversight over this committee, community policing, which is really important, as we all know, from what’s going on across the country, in terms of social injustice and other issues that have gone on. You have your professional standards, which is the integrity component of your whole agency. And that shouldn’t be included in other operations, you know, that should be separated out and controlled through the police chief and deputy chief.

Note: Huntington City Councilwoman Teresa Johnson will host a meet-and-greet with Police Chief Karl Colder at 6 p.m. Tuesday, January 11, at the A.D. Lewis Community Center. The meet-and-greet aims to introduce Police Chief Colder to the community of Huntington’s Fairfield District.

David Adkins: Huntington has had a long troubled history with race relations. With you being the city’s first black police chief, how does it feel to be part of our evolving history?

Chief Colder: Policing has not always been on the right side of the people, and it’s been that way in any African American community. I really think that understanding that as an African American police chief, I can better prepare our officers for those questions, and how to police in that setting. I think that is really important, that we understand culture, that we become culturally adroit to the African American community, as well as the white community. We have to be that face of America, well, we need officers who are African American. My job is to be the face of the agency, and also the face of the community. I think that’s important, me serving as the role model for the community. I think bringing my credentials to the table, sharing that with the community, whether that’s the white community or black community, I think that’s a great thing for people to see that people of color are successful.

My teaching experience, I think that taught me a whole lot about young people, and oftentimes we don’t get to hear their voice. They don’t see things the way that we see it as adults, and there’s a reason for that, but that’s where we can cultivate leaders, get young people to understand that there are differences, because a lot of issues that we deal with are subjective. Our young people have to do their own research, they have to understand what’s really going on, and they can’t depend on the media and adults to really tell them what’s going on, because adults have a hard time talking to each other; young people, they see it differently. I had the opportunity to spend the last two years or so understanding young people.

Jefferson County Police Embrace New Training To Improve Communication Skills, Recognize Bias

As the nation continues to grapple with conversations over police brutality and racism, some police departments are trying to tackle the problem by teaching better communication skills and recognizing bias among their officers.

Police in Jefferson County recently completed a two-day training focused on de-escalation, implicit bias and racial profiling.

About two dozen police officers gathered inside a spacious room, upstairs in the Charles Washington Hall in downtown Charles Town last week. They all work in Jefferson County. Most of them are city police in Charles Town, with some from Ranson and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Most of the police at the training were white men, but three were women, including one who was Black.

These officers came together to learn skills in de-escalation, which means to approach confrontations with respect, empathy and calm communication.

Cpl. Jason Newlin, who’s white, has 18 years of policing experience, most at the Charles Town Police Department. He said the last time he had training in de-escalation was in 2002.

“I think training like this will show the general public that we’re making an attempt to retrain our thought process and, you know, retraining the way that certain situations can be handled in the way that we speak to people,” Newlin said. “Every human being, whether they’re on the right side of the law or not, have an expectation to be treated with dignity and respect.”

Annual de-escalation training isn’t mandatory in Charles Town, but some West Virginia cities, such as Morgantown, do make it mandatory. Newlin said he thinks training in de-escalation and racial profiling need to happen more often.

“Technology advances, why shouldn’t our training? We have to shoot our guns twice a year to maintain state qualifications for weapons that some have never ever had to use in the field,” he said.

But they don’t receive regular training in communication skills, which Newlin points out, is one of the things they use most.

All police officers in West Virginia are required to have 16 hours of state-approved, in-service, or continued education training annually, according to Charles Town Police Chief Chris Kutcher. It’s department heads, like him, who decide what these annual trainings will include.

“Let’s face it, we know what’s going on in the country. It’s a hot topic. You know, as the chief, I felt now is a really good time to look at our de-escalations, look at our racial profiling,” Kutcher said. “My focus with this is to give the officers some tools, things to think about when they’re out interacting with our public here in Charles Town.”

Kutcher said this was the first training held by his department that took such an in-depth look at de-escalation, racial profiling and bias.

The training was led by Silver State Consulting, a law enforcement and police training group based in Las Vegas, Nevada. They focused the first day on de-escalation techniques for addressing verbal confrontations. They emphasized the importance of speaking calmly, asking questions, like “how can I help?” and being respectful at all times.

The second day, police officers learned about implicit, or unconscious, bias and racial profiling. The instructor emphasized that everyone has implicit bias and discussed ways to recognize when this is a problem.

“When you’re being trained to be a law enforcement officer, you’re trained on how to do the job, but you’re not trained on how to interact with people,” said Robert Woolsey, the owner of the Silver State Consulting group who led the two-day training in Charles Town. Woolsey is also a former police officer and police chief.

He said police are the public face of government, so it’s hugely important for them to have good people skills and remain positive while interacting with the community.

“Most people see a police officer every single day, but they never see their mayor or their governor or the president of the United States,” he said. “And so, as a very visible presence in the community, it’s something that needs to be taught. We just never thought to do it. We never really put the emphasis on how to communicate and how to interact with folks.”

Woolsey said criminal justice reform as a whole is necessary to address the problems of racism and the high incarceration rate of people of color. He said recognizing mental health issues among police officers, suspending them when necessary and training in de-escalation and racial profiling are keys to a better policing system.

At least one other West Virginia police department, Morgantown, held a similar training earlier this year. According to a department spokesperson, Morgantown holds de-escalation and anti-bias training annually.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting also reached out to the Charleston, Wheeling and Huntington Police Departments for comment on their own de-escalation training, but they did not immediately respond for comment.

Small Towns Host Black Lives Matter Marches As Movement Spreads Beyond Cities

By now it’s become a familiar scene: Marchers fill the streets with placards proclaiming “Black Lives Matter,” and chants fill the air as the demonstrators recite the names of those lost.

But there’s something different about some of these protests around the Ohio Valley in the past week. They’re not just happening in the larger cities such as Louisville, Lexington, Columbus and Cincinnati. Smaller college towns such asAthens, Ohio, andMorgantown, West Virginia, have seen marches. Communities in Kentucky farmland and the heart of Appalachian coal country, such as Hazard and Harlan, Kentucky, have seen people protesting against racial injustice and police violence.

“Because prejudice here is as old as our dialect here for some people, and it’s inherited,” Bree Carr said. The 18-year-old from Harlan, Kentucky, said she protested to be an ally for people of color so they will know they have support. “There are so many other people behind them that support you, and hear you, and want to see you.”

Bowling Green, Kentucky, has seenconsecutive days of protest, drawing up to a thousand people at one event. Civil Rights activist Charles Neblett sang with theFreedom Singers in the 1960s to fight segregation. Neblett said he was thirteen when Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi. He told protesters at the Warren County Justice Center that prejudice and injustice have persisted for too long.

“When is it gonna stop? I’m tired. And more people got to step up and do this thing,” he said.

The protests in smaller cities and towns have been overwhelmingly peaceful. But they have not been without confrontation. A protestplanned for Charleston, West Virginia, was postponed after organizers said they received threats, although a smaller group went ahead with a demonstration. Carr said she received threats over the demonstrations in Harlan, and in western Kentucky marchers have faced assaults.

A video from a march on June 2 in Murray, Kentucky, showed a white motorist using pepper spray on marchers as he drove by. The man, who was from Paducah, Kentucky, was arrested. Another white man was later arrested for pointing a weapon at demonstrators in Murray.

A Facebook video shows a man assaulting marchers in Murray, KY, with chemical spray.

The marchers in Murray invoked the names of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, both killed by police. But another issue is animating the protests here as well. Demonstrators are calling for the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee next to the Calloway County courthouse, spurred by anopen letter issued by a football coach at the local university.

As in other places, the protests here are reviving older debates about statues and memorials dedicated to the Confederacy. Louisville officials on Mondayremoved the controversial equestrian statue of John B. Castleman, a Confederate officer, something city leaders had proposed years ago.

It remains to be seen if the same will happen in small towns like Murray. On Monday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshearcalled for Murray’s statue to come down after being asked a question about it during a press conference.

The calls to remove Confederate memorials in rural communities are also part of a larger theme of confronting a history and stigma of racism in some smaller towns.

In Marshall County, Kentucky, where the population is nearly 98 percent white, more than a hundred people marched on Friday around the courthouse square. Only a few months earlier the county’s judge-executive had allowed a confederate battle flag to fly at the courthouse before a backlashforced its removal.

A protest in Marshall Co., KY, where a confederate flag recently flew over the county courthouse.

Malique Humphries, a 23-year-old black man from neighboring county, says he was afraid to protest in Marshall County after being in other protests because of the county’s perceived racist reputation.

“I have a six-year-old daughter,” he said, “and I felt uncomfortable to come here, you understand that?”

Yet he came anyway to join other Marshall County residents to start a larger conversion about racial injustice, police accountability, and loving one another.

“We should feel comfortable anywhere we want to go, we should be allowed to go anywhere we want to go, it shouldn’t matter if the majority is white or not, we should feel comfortable anywhere on this earth.”

Humphries said he hopes protests like these will start to bring change where it is needed, at the local level.

ReSource reporters Sydney Boles, Brittany Patterson, Aaron Payne, and Becca Schimmel contributed material for this story.