Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders is defending the Des Moines Police Department's decision to put a sergeant who has been disciplined for excessive force on the five-person team that leads the department's de-escalation training. In a Tuesday email to Mayor Frank Cownie and the six members of the Des Moines City Council, Sanders said he and Police Chief Dana Wingert have met privately with "sincerely concerned residents" — but he didn't find their arguments persuasive. On the decision to make Sgt. Michael Fong a trainer, Sanders wrote: "In the end, this was a management decision and, the deeper I dig into it, the more I am convinced that the selection of Sgt. Fong to assist in this training is appropriate."