With so many confrontations between police and civilians continuing to end in injury or death, a cultural shift within law enforcement is necessary to acknowledge the importance and advantages of training officers in de-escalation techniques.
So agreed speakers at a webinar last week sponsored by the Niskanen Center and R Street Institute last week.
The talks focused on the 2022 federal Law Enforcement De-escalation Training Act, which aims at formalizing officer training.
The statute establishes a curriculum of training topics, and authorizes $124 million in federal grant funding over four years of training, said R Street's Jillian Snyder.
Robin Engel, a researcher at Ohio State University, expressed concerns about the lack of a core curriculum for the training and suggested a collaboration between researchers, law enforcement, and the public to identify the key elements that should be prioritized in the use of the funds.
"The truth is, even experts can't necessarily agree, or they don't agree on what should be core components of a de-escalation training, or, for that matter, how we even define de-escalation," Engel said.
Engel is concerned that training programs won't be properly evaluated, and law enforcement leaders will see them as "check-the-box" exercises instead of real opportunities for improvement.
Richard Hahn of the Niskanen Center emphasized the importance of ongoing training and adaptable implementation strategies across various police departments to manage crises effectively.
"We need a lot of flexibility in terms of in terms of how it's implemented in each department because you're talking about 19,000 different little cultures that are represented by the police departments and sheriff's departments in this country," Hahn said.
Snyder emphasized the significance of getting frontline officers and supervisors to follow new protocols.
"We need to have someone who is administering this training, who cares about it, who understands it, who finds its value, and who has passion behind what they're teaching to make sure that the officers aren't just going in there checking the box," Snyder said.
Engel said first-line supervisors have the potential to influence receptivity to the training, which "can reduce officer injury as well as citizen injury."
Hahn noted the importance of tangible incentives for officers and suggested making de-escalation a credential for promotion.
He pointed out that law enforcement often rewards and incentivizes officers for making large numbers of arrests or show bravery in dangerous situations but overlook or fail to reward officers who focus on de-escalating tense situations, or who encourage their colleagues to take a calmer, more measured approach.
"A lot of times, we don't recognize people for just de-escalating a situation, or encouraging their fellow officers to take the tone down of a situation," he said.
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