CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The Charleston Police Department is currently undergoing a racial bias audit.

Since February, an outside consultant group has done 75 interviews with personnel and met with 250 community members, trying to learn more about the department, policies, use of force and hiring process.

Since the interviews, the department has increased diversity in their staff, expanded their pre-academy training covering gender identity training, de-escalation tactics and constitutional law.

“We know that we have issues and challenges when it comes to race, public trust, and community engagement, and a lot of different areas. We are embracing this audit, excited about it and it’s already yielding good outcomes,” says Chief Luther Reynolds of the Charleston Police Department.

The consultant group will finish the audit in the fall.