Police training

Congratulations for this important and excellent story [Spring 2016] that WSU grads are creating concerning the much needed training of first responders in handling potentially explosive and often tragic situations. It is of interest that the technology (smart phone cameras) that brought to the country’s attention the several recent lethal police encounters with escalating situations, is also being used to assist the training (dash and body cams) to defuse contentious confrontations.

I am pleased to see that the researchers and trainers involved in this project are expertly fusing psychology, criminology, and technology into their training programs and that they take seriously the validation of their training procedures. Their success will likely save lives of otherwise disruptive suspects and mentally ill individuals. Here’s hoping that the fruits of their research will spread across the country.

Ronald Kleinknecht ’64, ’66 MS Psych., ’69 PhD Clinical Psych. and Criminology

 

Still thinking about Amelia

Whenever I see an article on Amelia, It takes me back to my time spent on Saipan during WWII. I was a ground crew chief on a B-29 Bomber, and every third day had 14 hours of free time to roam around the island. I became friends with a Chamorro fisherman. He spoke fairly good English, and during one of our conversations, told me about fishing at the docks one day (before the invasion). He said a boat came in that had a blond woman and a dark haired man aboard. He saw them taken away, both restrained, but never saw them again. I asked him if he had ever heard of Amelia, and he had not. Other than seeing the two, he had no further information. I have told this to many people, but not to anyone with interest.

Frank Slagle ’51
Redmond

 

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