Madison Police Chief Mike Koval offered insight into local issues and his appearance on “The Daily Show” during a small community meeting Thursday night.
Koval stated that while he was initially hesitant to accept the offer to have the Madison Police Department appear on a segment of “The Daily Show” on police relations, he eventually came to the realization that the show “would leave a teachable moment on the table.”
During his four-minute segment on “The Daily Show,” Koval exhibited the department’s antibias training program, one of a few in the country.
“This is some measure of indicia of a police department that’s truly exerting a great deal of effort to try and get into the weeds to see how we can be more relational, how we can examine how we police, and are there unintended consequences with the way we train, the way we talk, with the way we interact and the decision-making we do,” Koval said.
Koval described some of his own former blind spots, from his history working as an FBI agent on Indian reservations.
“[With] an open mind, you come to the conclusion that we all have blind spots which in and of themselves .. aren’t harmful ... but can be when they manifest themselves during outcome or behavior,” Koval said.
The police chief also discussed the lack of personnel that Madison has for a city its size, especially in the West District. In a hypothetical scenario, Koval estimated that there would only be four police officers available to respond to calls after 4 a.m. in the West district.
Koval said it is hard to have enough officers on call to provide for the city.
Building off the wish for more staff, Koval described that the department is not just looking for criminal justice majors during recruitment, but pulls recruits from a wide variety of academic disciplines, ranging from sociology majors to English majors. Koval said the department trains new recruits, regardless of criminal justice experience.
“You’re the clay, I’m the potter, the wheel is spinning and I can forge you,” Koval said.
