Castile Cop Took Tough ‘Warrior’ Course

Jeronimo Yanez, the St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer who killed black motorist Philando Castile last week, attended a controversial Bulletproof Warrior seminar in which cops are reportedly encouraged to shoot if they feel threatened, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. Yanez attended the training in May 2014 and was taught that “hesitation can kill you,” according to the newspaper. These kind of “survival” courses for police officers are taking off nationally, but some departments won’t fund the trainings because they disagree with the methods. Some say these courses foster a sense of paranoia among officers, including Michael Becar, with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training. He said, “Police training became very militaristic and it caused a lot of the problems that are going on in the nation.” But the company who runs Bulletproof Warrior claims the training has received an unfairly negative reputation. “Our mission is to save everyone’s lives,” said Calibre CEO Lisa Gitchell. “We go to bed every night knowing that we did the right thing. We train officers to treat people with dignity and respect.”