Fall General Membership Meeting - Spokane, WA

Register today!

Join fellow members in Spokane, September 13 -15, for a first hand look at the advocacy work being done on behalf of WA State law enforcement. Featuring a full day of professional training that is a must-see for those involved in OIS interviews and use of force investigations. Two and a half days focused on providing you the most up to date information in public safety and labor issues, professional training, and opportunities to network with colleagues from across the state. All WACOPS members are invited to attend this no-cost registration event, make sure your organization is sending a representative to this information packed meeting.

Agenda at a glance...

  • Strategic planning update & year in review reports
  • Professional training seminars featuring Paul Taylor, PhD and Von Kliem, Force Science CEO and Director of Consulting Division
  • 2024 legislative session preview
  • WACOPS business meeting
  • Guest speakers from DRS, LEOFF 2, Blue Bridge Foundation, and more...
View the Draft Agenda (as of 8/25/23) 

Event Dates 

September 13-15, 2023

Location

The Historic Davenport Hotel
10 South Post Street
Spokane, WA 99201
509-455-8888

Guest Room Reservations

King or Double Queen $154.00/nt + tax

8/22/24 - The WACOPS room block is now full. If you are in need of lodging, there are accommodations outside of the WACOPS room block available at the Historic Davenport. Please contact the hotel directly or search online for the best available rates. 

Members Register for the Conference Here

Featured Trainings on Thursday, September 14th...
 
Interviews for Force Investigations
Paul Taylor, PhD

One of the most important and controversial aspects of any use of force investigation is the interview with the involved officer(s). Most law enforcement investigators are trained and regularly use deductive interview techniques – techniques designed to prove/disprove the investigators’ theories about a case. While these techniques are very effective at determining whether or not a crime was committed and eliciting confessions from people who are trying to conceal their wrongdoing; they have been shown to unnecessarily introduce investigator biases and contaminate the memory of interviewees who are providing voluntary statements. This is particularly true when the interview data is needed to understand and assess the ‘reasonableness’ of decision-making. On the other hand, inductive interview techniques like the Cognitive Interview, have been shown to reduce in influence of investigator bias, improve recall along with data quality and quantity, while at the same time inoculating against forgetting and memory contamination. This presentation will examine the who, what, where, when, and why of use of force interviews while demonstrating the merits, both to the quality of the data collect and to officer wellness, of taking an inductive approach.

Paul Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado Denver where he studies decision-making, human factors, and system safety in the context of police interactions with the public. He has over ten years of practical law enforcement experience including time as a department training manager, patrol sergeant, and use-of-force instructor. Paul is the founder of the Association of Force Investigators and has delivered law enforcement related instruction for academy, field training, and advanced in-service audiences as well as graduate and undergraduate level courses. Paul is actively engaged in law enforcement research, training, and consulting across the United States and internationally.  

Force Science | Cops Are Not Cameras: How Calls for Accountability May Be Ignoring Well-Settled Science

Von Kliem, MCJ, JD, LL.M.
CEO and Director of Consulting Division

Understanding police use of force and achieving honest accountability means admitting that police are human.  Why then are well-settled concepts involving attention, perception, and decision-making suddenly controversial or ignored in high-profile cases?  Led by the Director of Consulting at Force Science, this session will address the role that video recordings, witness statements, and human factors play in evaluating high-profile use-of-force cases.  Hear examples from Force Science case evaluations—including some of our country’s most politically charged police use-of-force encounters.

At the end of the session, attendees will:
•  Have a structure for analyzing imminent threats and decision-making before, during, and after critical incidents.
• Understand how the high-profile nature of a case can influence the evaluation of police use-of-force encounters.
•  Identify the role that human factors play in police use-of-force decision-making and performance.
•  Know ten reasons officers (and witnesses) can fail to see information during a critical incident, information that may be easily identified in a video.

With extensive experience as a police officer, educator, and attorney, Von provides cutting-edge training and consultation on constitutional policing, use of force, crisis communications, and trauma-informed interviewing. His expertise extends beyond police practices; with over 20 years committed to the response, investigation, and prosecution of family violence and sexual assault cases. 

With over 30 years in the Criminal Justice field, Von has held positions including Patrol Officer, Community Police Officer, Gang and Drug Investigator, Senior Use of Force Instructor, Street-level Patrol Supervisor, Parole Investigator, and Jailer. His legal positions included Chief Prosecutor, Special Victim’s Counsel, Police Legal Advisor, Senior Policy Attorney, Military Magistrate, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, and Domestic Operational Law Attorney. In addition to his work with Force Science, Von was a senior public safety policy attorney for Lexipol and is co-owner of Von Kliem Consulting, LLC.