JONES COUNTY, Miss. ( WHLT ) – The Jones County Sheriff’s Department wants to prevent deputy-involved incidents.

Their new “Duty to Intervene” training is aimed at preparing deputies to hold themselves and others accountable. The four-hour training session looks at real court cases that emphasize situations where officers were found liable for failing to intervene and what proper actions should have been taken.

Deputies learn to assess situations in real time and respond when another officer uses excessive force or doesn’t follow procedure, regardless of rank or agency.

“If it’s physical, they should step in and physically remove the officer from the scene. If not, verbally tell the officer that they need to stop doing what they’re doing. But if they go and pull up to the scene and see an officer obviously doing something excessive, they should physically step in,” said Captain J.D. Carter with the Jones County Sheriff’s Department.

“Police officers are human beings, and they make mistakes. They get angry, they lose their temper when somebody hits them out of the blue or whatever. But we have to be able to circumvent that by doing the best we can to control those situations by another officer. It doesn’t matter who, to come in and say, ‘Hey, calm down,'” said Eddy Ingram, the training director at the Jones County Sheriff’s Department.

While “Duty to Intervene” training isn’t mandated in Mississippi, the Jones County Sheriff’s Department is requiring all deputies to take the course.

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