On Monday, Speaker Paul Ryan met with a handful of Police Chiefs from across the nation to discuss growing tensions between officers and their communities. During the discussion, Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), brought up new police training tactics that the organization is trying to implement nationwide.

According to the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS), PERFs suggested tactics are criticized by a number of police organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police.

ALADS submitted a letter to Paul Ryan, outlining their concern over the proposed training tactics.

I am writing because I have learned you recently met with members of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) regarding their “guidelines” on police use of force. Those guidelines have been roundly criticized by the International Association of Police Chiefs of Police and the Fraternal Order of Police as dangerous and naive proposals which will endanger the life and safety of law enforcement.

…The PERF guidelines were not the product of robust debate or discussion but instead agenda driven. Those who attempted to question the guidelines before adoption were simply ignored by PERF executives, who allowed no dissent to their proposals. The same brushoff of law enforcement continued after the guidelines were adopted; for example, Chuck Wexler, PERF’s Executive Director, refused multiple invitations to discuss the guidelines with members of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs.

ALADS is critical of the PERF training tactics due to the use of force standards.

In a media advisory sent to Bearing Arms, the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs explains their overall view of PERF standards:

ALADS believes that PERF ideas are dangerous for law enforcement personnel. One proposed PERF standard, is the “proportionality”  test which calls for officers to ask themselves; “How would the general public view the action we took? Would they think it was appropriate to the entire situation and the severity of the threat posed to me or the public?”

ALADS believes that this statement is stunning in its lack of insight and practicality.