'The Force' Director Talks Documenting The Scandal-Plagued Oakland PD

Newsy sat down with Peter Nicks, the director of "The Force." The documentary takes viewers inside the Oakland Police Department when it's about a decade into a mandated reform process.

Nicks and his team started working on the film in April 2013. 

"We wanted to understand kind of who becomes a cop and why. That was the central question of the film," Nicks said.

National Police Orgs Recommend De-Escalation Be Adopted Across The US

National Police Orgs Recommend De-Escalation Be Adopted Across The US

Several organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police, contributed to a consensus policy on the use of force.

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But the focus of the film changed after the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, the subsequent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and the emergence of Black Lives Matter nationwide.

"The film at that point became much more about how this department was holding both the responsibility of keeping this community safe ... [and] at the same time, having to deal with the national call for accountability," Nicks explained.