Obama: We Need Better Police Training So ‘People Can Be Aware of Their Biases’

Obama: We Need Better Police Training So ‘People Can Be Aware of Their Biases Ahead of Time’ (RealClearPolitics)

President Obama did a trio of interviews with what the White House describes as "YouTube creators." GloZell Green, a YouTube star known for her green lipstick and doing the "cereal challenge" where she sat in a bathtub full of milk and cereal, talked with the president about police interaction with minority communities can be improved.

"We always just have to remind ourselves that the overwhelming majority of police officers, they are doing a really tough job and they are doing it well and they are doing it professionally," Obama said. "What we also know is that there is still biases in our society that in split-second situations, where people have to make quick decisions, that studies have shown that African-American males are seen as more threatening which puts them in more vulnerable positions."

"Young African-American males are typically seen as older than they are," Obama told Green.

"So a lot of the way to solve this is to improve training so people can be aware of their biases ahead of time," Obama said.