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After police kill someone, the department is supposed to notify the family. But consultant Bruce Praet advises officers to use that interaction as an opportunity.
Praet is a well-known name in law enforcement, especially across California. He co-founded a company called Lexipol that contracts with more than 95% of police departments in the state and offers its clients training and ready-made policies.
In one of Praet’s training webinars, posted online, he offers advice aimed squarely at protecting police departments: Instead of delivering the news of the death immediately, he suggests officers could first ask about the person who was killed to get as much information as possible.
Reporter Brian Howey started looking into this advice when he was with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. He found that officers have been using this tactic across California, and there was a real impact: The information families disclosed before they knew their relative was killed by police had an effect on their lawsuits later.
In this update of an episode that first aired last year, Howey interviews families that have been on the receiving end of this controversial policing tactic and tracks down Praet to interview him about the consequences of his advice.
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