MIDDLESEX TWP — A local patrolman recently spent a day in Washington, D.C., with 75 police officers from 18,000 police departments all over the U.S., sharing experiences and advice at the President’s Task Force 21st Century Policing conference.

Conrad Pfeifer of the township police force attended the conference on Sept. 8, where he learned strategies for keeping both officers and the public safe in the face of growing unrest between police and the public across the country.

The day started with a tour of the White House. The conference was held in the afternoon at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building beside the White House.

Pfeifer said the subjects covered were building trust and legitimacy, policy and oversight, technology and social media, community policing and crime reduction, training and education and officer wellness and safety.

Pfeifer said the most fascinating breakout session at the conference was led by a professor from Morehouse College in Atlanta, an all-black college.

He said the professor stressed that everyone can hold biases they are unaware of that can cause them to make decisions based on age, sex, clothing style, social status, skin color and other factors.

He said the professor gave a test at the end of the session with pictures of different people and various words to use in describing them. The test was meant to determine the taker’s unintentional biases.

“In my opinion, it was the best presentation of the day,” Pfeifer said.

Another subject at the conference was regionalizing police departments to offset a smaller department’s lack of resources for training and equipment.

Pfeifer said Middlesex has already taken the first step by entering into an enhanced mutual aid agreement with neighboring Penn Township Police Department. All officers from both townships are sworn officers in the other’s municipality.

The agreement originated in 2010 because neither department had enough officers to provide 24-hour police coverage.

Pfeifer said he and several other officers he knows would be in favor of merging the area’s smaller departments into one force.

“Middlesex (police) would love to have a Southern Butler County Regional Police force, absolutely,” he said.

But forming a regional police department can raise issues about seniority, rank, health care benefits and other factors.

Pfeifer said scenario-based training regarding shoot or don’t shoot exercises were also discussed. He said such training is impossible for a six-person police force like Middlesex because several officers cannot be off duty at the same time to attend training.

He said Butler County Community College has a full simulation setup where officers shoot lasers at situations and people on a video screen.

“Adams Township did it, but they have 17 officers,” Pfeifer said.

Pfeifer said dangerous situations arising from domestic dispute also were discussed at the conference.

He learned that of the 79 police officers killed so far in 2016 in the line of duty, 40 percent were responding to a domestic disturbance call.

“Domestics are the most dangerous calls, hands down,” Pfeifer said.

He also learned that wearing body cameras is not as easy for police as it sounds.

In addition to the expense of the cameras, a police department must also invest in a server, software and an officer or other person to look at hours of video, Pfeifer said.

The department must also decide who has access to the video, whether an officer can review video before writing a report and other details.

“There’s much more to it than just the physical camera,” Pfeifer said.

Pfeifer said body cameras were among the subjects discussed at lunch with his group, which included a police captain from Philadelphia, a captain from DeKalb County, Ga., the Cornell University Chief of Police and a police lieutenant from Madison, Wis.

“I was by far from the smallest police department there,” Pfeifer said.

Regarding the conference recommendation that police work with the community to develop positive dialogue and interactions, Pfeifer said Middlesex officers currently visit churches, schools and businesses.

He said officers also give presentations at the police station for scouting groups and remain involved in the Mars School District.

“We are currently reading books to elementary students at Mars about safety,” Pfeifer said.

The township assisted Pfeifer with mileage to the event, and paid his daily wage while he attended the conference.

Township manager Travis Cavanaugh said there are many benefits to Pfeifer attend the conference.

He said awareness of officer training and education opportunities, as well as officer safety and wellness, are some of the positives gleaned by Pfeifer at the conference.

“And it gives the opportunity to learn from other municipalities and even big cities,” Cavanaugh said.