Decreasing the Use of Force: De-escalation Training for Police Officers
Starting in 2014, there has been a fevered national conversation about the use of force by police officers. The ubiquity of public and private video cameras has flooded social and traditional media with recordings of officers using force against citizens. The wide dissemination of video recordings that cast law enforcement in a negative light has led to public outcry for substantive changes to the manner in which officers use force against citizens. In answer to the demands for a transformation of how police use force, this thesis proposes modifications to the training curriculum delivered to law enforcement officers.
In 2015, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) conducted a survey of 280 law enforcement agencies to determine the number of training hours recruit academies assigned to use of force topics versus de-escalation topics.[1] The results of the PERF survey discovered that for each one hour of training devoted to studying de-escalation methods, there had been eight hours of training devoted to learning about utilizing some type of force.[2] This thesis conducted a similar survey with the members of the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Requirements and Training (IADLEST). The executive more than police requirements and training in each state in the United States is a member of IADLEST. The survey administered to the IADLEST members resulted in an 8.9 to 1 ratio of training hours of force to de-escalation. Each the PERF survey and the IADLEST survey show a gross imbalance in what is emphasized throughout police recruit training.
Recognition-Primed Choice (RPD) was applied to the outcomes of the PERF and IADLEST surveys to gain understanding as to why some police officers might inappropriately use force. The RPD model claims that in time limited and volatile circumstances, people naturally make decisions primarily based on prior experiences.[5] Individuals rapidly assess the situation, recall previously encountered situations of a similar nature, and choose a course of action based on the prior occurrences that have had successful outcomes.[6] Analyzing the results of the PERF and IADLEST surveys through the RPD framework supports the hypothesis that police officers are primed to use force options rather of de-escalation techniques because force is overemphasized during training.
Based on the outcomes of the surveys and the analysis utilizing the RPD framework, this thesis recommends achieving parity in between force and de-escalation training hours in police recruit training and in-service training. It also suggests an emphasis in function-playing exercises focused on effective application of de-escalation methods to offer officers with an encounter base to draw upon when they are confronted with volatile encounters with citizens.
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