Thursday, July 23, 2020

Teach Them to be Peace Officers, Not Just Police Officers

   Teach the police to make peace, to seek peaceful resolutions.  If Rayshard Brooks says he just needs to go home because he is drunk, offer him a ride, or ask him if someone can come get him. He suggested to police he should have such help, but police didn't take him up on it.
   Whenever you can resolve an issue, do it. Deescalation means satisfying the other party when it is within justice to do so. It means looking to avoid violence whenever you can. It means recognizing the other party is going to be scared of you, and you need to reassuring that you want to help them if you can. It means, the longer you let a situation foment, the higher emotions will become, the more frazzled nerves will be. Think of Rayshard Brooks, and how long the situation simmered before exploding.
   Deescalation means talking a problem down, not working it up.
   Deescalation? It certainly doesn't mean kneeling on the neck of the person you are arresting for eight-and-a-half minutes. Derek Chauvin should be asked what the deescalation training measures he was given for a situation such as he faced with George Floyd. Or, was there no deescalation training for such a situation?
   If we are not training officers to deescalate, this problem of police violence will never go away. They need to be peace officers, not just police officers.

(Blog shortened 11/24/20 and much of the material moved to a new blog. I still do not feel I have expressed myself clearly enough, so yet another attempt is likely.)

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