FBI Director James Comey for the first time is weighing in on the need to address bias among police, which he believes has been a factor in poor relations with minority communities.
The speech at Georgetown University comes Thursday in the wake of violence in Ferguson, Mo., and elsewhere around the country over police shootings of black people.
It’s a subject Comey and the FBI have largely sidestepped except in the context of civil rights investigations.
Comey is expected to say they police officers aren’t inherently prone to bias any more than the rest of society. And officers pursue careers in the law intending to treat and protect citizens equally, he plans to say, according to FBI officials.
Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama have addressed the issue in similar terms and received criticism for appearing not to sufficiently back police officers.