The Department of Justice (DOJ) plans on training more than 33,000 federal agents and prosecutors to curb unconscious bias from affecting their work, according to a new report.
The DOJ on Monday is announcing the mandatory program after several incidents involving white police officers shooting unarmed black men, Reuters reported.
{mosads}Reuters said a department memo states the training will target “implicit bias” — subtle, unconscious stereotypes or characterizations made about certain groups of people.
“But implicit bias also presents unique challenges to effective law enforcement, because it can alter where investigators and prosecutors look for evidence and how they analyze it without their awareness or ability to compensate,” Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said in the memo.
Yates on Monday said DOJ is implementing the program next year after the success of similar initiatives by local law enforcement agencies.
“This program has been so well-received by our state and local counterparts, we thought it was something we should be offering to our federal agents, frankly, to get our own house in order,” she told Reuters.
Reuters said the department employs more than 5,800 attorneys and 28,000 law enforcement agents across the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Department of Homeland Security employees, which include 60,000 border patrol officers and agents, are not included in the order.
Yates said the DOJ hopes it will serve as a model for other federal agencies.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Tuesday will announce the initiative in Phoenix during a community policing tour, according to an official.
Reuters added police departments in Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York City and New Orleans have already implemented similar training.
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