PORT ANGELES — Police and other city employees will undertake cultural diversity and sensitivity training classes in response to complaints of racism and unfair treatment involving Coast Guard personnel.
Police Chief Tom Riepe said Monday that the training will be done “in the near future.”
Police conduct was not specifically criticized in a recent “social climate incident report” by Capt. William W. Peterson, Port Angeles Coast Guard Group commanding officer, to his superiors in Seattle and Washington, D.C.
But Riepe reminded his officers in a memorandum to “please show, with empathy, your concern and commitment to quality public safety for all members of our community.”
The Coast Guard report by Peterson collected incidents told to him by his personnel as the result of an “all hands” meeting at the Ediz Hook base in March.
The meeting was prompted by earlier incidents alleging vandalism and racial slurs written on a black petty officer’s car, and a barroom scuffle spurred by racial epithets hurled by a white man at a black Coast Guardsman.
Although police were called to neither scene at the time, officers made follow-up reports after learning of the incidents, Riepe said Monday.
——————————
The rest of this story appears in today’s Peninsula Daily News. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
