Can police officers be trained to discard their racial biases?

After a white police officer killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, there were months of protest across the country, including Seattle. New attention focused on how the police interact with black people.

Now, police departments are considering whether special training can help their officers overcome their own biases.

One idea comes from Washington State University. Assistant professor Lois James developed the Counter Bias Training program.

She talks with KUOW's Kim Malcolm about what an officer will experience in the simulation.

The program has been tried in some smaller police forces in Oregon. Starting in January, it will get a bigger test with the Cleveland police department.

Are you curious about your own biases? You can take a test on a Harvard University website: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html