The murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin sparked a national conversation about the role of police in our communities.

Somewhere between calls to abolish the police and cries of “Blue Lives Matter,” you can find Timothy Dymond, a state police investigator and president of the New York State Police Investigators Association.

Dymond recently laid out a plan to help train his fellow officers in mental health and crisis negotiation, and de-escalation methods.

“The amount of training we receive in mental health, crisis negotiation and de-escalation is woefully inadequate compared with the amount of time spent on vehicle operation, firearms, defensive tactics, penal law, criminal procedure law and investigation techniques,” Dymond wrote in a column in the Albany Times Union.

Speaking with Capital Tonight, Dymond said the training program he envisions would work hand-in-glove with master’s degree granting programs at the State University of New York. 

Anyone entering the training program could return to their former position. It would “attract people who legitimately want to make the profession better,” he said.