YouTube Video: Barstow CA IncidentThe President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommends new approaches for building trust and developing legitimacy between police and the communities they serve. A positive secondary benefit of improved collaboration is the potential for reducing liability risks. Common among incidents of violent police-citizen encounters is that they often start with low level, routine interactions that evolve into conflicts, and sometimes even escalate into police use of force. Most officers receive minimal training to facilitate the resolution of small disputes which are often times left unresolved to fester or escalate. This session will identify the value of closing this training gap and describe methods to provide officers with verbal mediation and interest-based negotiation skills, as well as models and techniques to more effectively engage and interact with members of their community while serving in a law enforcement environment.
