Police officers describe what they really think about de-escalation training: They ‘put guns up peoples noses’

MassPrivateI

In a NY Times article showing how police are being trained to de-escalate a situation two Seattle cops describe what’s really going on:

In the video a Seattle police trainer expresses sympathy when he is aggressively challenged by skeptical officers. “I agree. I agree. Don’t shoot the messenger. This is what the DOJ is saying, not me,” the trainer says, referring to new mandatory training to curb excessive use of force required in a 2012 consent decree between the city and U.S. Department of Justice.  

In another part of the video, an officer undergoing the training describes a personal experience. “I pulled my gun out and stuck it right in his nose and I go, ‘show me your hands now.’ He showed me his hands. I just de-escalated him from doing something.”

“Last week, there was a guy in a car who wouldn’t show me his hands,” the officer said. “I pulled my gun out and stuck it right in his nose, and I go, ‘Show me your hands now!’ That’s de-escalation.”

Another trainer pointed out that department policy doesn’t equate de-escalation with use of force.

“If we just started to treat people with dignity and respect, things would go much better”  said Gary T. Klugiewicz, a retired Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office captain.

Klugiewicz trains police in de-escalation techniques.

Training regimens at nearly all of our nation’s police academies emphasize military-style exercises, including significant hours spent practicing drill, formation and saluting, said Maria R. Haberfeld, a professor of police science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

“I was trained to fight the war on crime, and we were measured by the number of arrests we made and our speed in answering 911 calls,” said Kathleen O’Toole, the Seattle police chief.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Police Commissioner Robert Haas makes excuses for cops encountering people who know their rights and challenge them verbally: ‘We haven’t taught officers to just walk away.’ 

Keep in mind, the Feds claim there are close to 9,000 untrained police departments in America.

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole has asked the department’s internal-investigations unit to conduct a preliminary review of comments made by the two officers.

O’Toole asked the department’s Office of Professional Accountability to examine the comments regarding the use of a gun, Pierce Murphy, the OPA’s civilian director, said.

The OPA will conduct a preliminary review of both matters to determine if a full investigation should be conducted to determine if discipline is warranted, Murphy said.

In the case of the gun comments, the OPA will seek to determine whether the incident described by the officer occurred and the full context, including whether a use of force was reported under department policy, Murphy said.

Nothing is going to change until police stop being trained by the military and receiving military tanks, assault weapons, grenade launchers etc.  Keep in mind veterans receive preferential hiring at our nation’s police departments and many of them were former military police.

“Combat veterans seeking police careers may do poorly on entrance exams, they may lack confidence in their skill sets, or they may have had some post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that come out in psychological screenings. Any of these issues can keep returning military personnel from a police job, but all can be remedied. More importantly, there are people and programs in and out of the military that can help.”

Police One magazine wrote a BS article absolving police hiring veterans that might have PTSD.

“Dr. Eric Dean Jr. noted that the mental health industry has not adequately defined PTSD and its so-called discovery was more a political statement against the Vietnam War than a scientific breakthrough.”

‘He wrote that “PTSD, born in an era of vehement antiwar sentiment, cast its net widely over many aspects of human behavior that had never before been considered a ‘mental illness’” and wrongly labeled normal reactions to violence a mental health problem.’

“Police hiring authorities should keep in mind the myth and reality of PTSD, and, in some instances, their legal obligation not to discriminate against applicants or returning police officers for their service.’

Therein lies the problem, police departments don’t care if a soldier has psychological problems.

Click here, here & here to read more about military vets receiving preferential hiring.

The qualifications to become a military cop to put it in layman’s terms: they couldn’t become soldiers for numerous issues (psychological, physical) so they became military cops.

How many cops are vets, no one is saying how many cops can stop thinking and acting like soldiers?

Do I really need to answer that?

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