Police Trainer Talks About Using Force

Augusta, GA—Law enforcement officers and the District Attorney’s office spent months reviewing the dash-cam video of the Cherry Tree Crossing shooting before the case went to the Richmond County Grand Jury.

Alfonzo Williams served as an expert witness for the prosecutor Tuesday. He is nearly done teaching a training course for future officers. Williams says officers go through extensive training at the Academy to learn how to deal with threats, diffuse dangerous situations and when to use force.

The law enforcement veteran says if his students had seen the Cherry Tree Crossing video, weeks ago, they may have had a lot of questions about the way the officers reacted. But now, they look at it with a trained eye.

“Looking at the video today, these officers are able to see right away that the amount of force used in that situation when the perpetrator presented the threat to the officers, it’s very apparent that they took proper action and that they met deadly force with deadly force which is the only way to go in that particular situation. And that is extremely apparent,“ says Williams.

He says law enforcement officers go through extensive training at academy to learn how to deal with threats, diffuse dangerous situations and when to use force. And contrary to popular belief, Williams say officers are not trained to shoot to kill. “Officers are trained to fire until the threat is neutralized or eliminated. So if the threat is being presented continues, then the off is to use force continues. When the threat is arrested or stopped, the officer stops,“ says Williams.

Williams is instructing the first class of Peace Officers at Augusta Tech. The class will graduate in June after eighteen weeks of training.