De-Escalation Training
In anticipation of upcoming use-of-force legislation, the Attorney General’s office recently invited legislators to come in for de-escalation training on this 300-degree simulator. I’m happy to report that I shot 100% in target practice before engaging in four scenarios, where I wasn’t as lucky (shot and killed twice – once by a guy who was mid-execution when I came in and started trying to talk him out of it, and once by a get-away driver I incorrectly assumed was unarmed.) The simulator helps you realize how quickly life-and-death decisions have to be made, and that sometimes you have to take a life to save one or more lives.
I always like to share what I’ve learned, so if you are interested in de-escalation, read on:
- The standard for use-of-force review protocol stems from a Supreme Court case called Graham v. Connor, in which Chief Justice Rehnquist said, “Police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving. The test of ‘reasonableness’ is not capable of precise definition or mechanical application.”
- In 2017, U.S. police arrested 10,500,000 people.
- In 2018, 53.5 million people in the U.S. had contact with the police.
- In 2018, there were 1,206,836 violent crimes reported in the U.S. (murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.)
- In 2018, there were 6,631 violent crimes reported in Utah. We expect police to respond to all reports of violent crime.
- When you think about it, police officers are professional problem solvers. They train on an array of skills, including verbal communication, de-escalation, use-of-force decision making, hostage rescue, tactical, medical, and a variety of public safety skills.
- Before graduating from the academy, police candidates in Utah receive a minimum of 16 hours of de-escalation training.
- When deadly force is used by police in Utah, the incident is subject to at least four reviews: 1) the agency itself (internal review), 2) a protocol agency (external review), 3) the county attorney’s office where the incident occurred, and 4) the courts, if the incident is litigated.
- Statistically, police use of force is not common. Use of deadly force is rare. Abuse of deadly force (like the George Floyd case) is a tragic anomaly.
It will be interesting to see what de-escalation proposals are brought to the legislature next session. I’m sure I’ll be learning a lot more about the existing process and all of its pros and cons. How can we improve public safety while keeping police officers as safe as possible in their very, very dangerous jobs? Anomalies are anomalies, and it’s difficult to legislate for those.