RACE AND JUSTICE - Cooling Down Confrontations

"How police can cool down confrontations before they turn deadly" PBS NewsHour 12/11/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Protesters continue to take to the streets around the country following the fatal police shootings in Ferguson, Missouri, and Cleveland, as well as the death of Eric Garner in New York City.

Earlier this week on “NewsHour,” we had a discussion with a panel of young protesters.  Tonight, we hear from a panel of law enforcement experts.

I spoke earlier this week with three people who have thought a lot about the subjects of policing, violence and race.  Dean Esserman is the chief of police in New Haven, Connecticut.  David Klinger is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri.  He’s also a former Los Angeles police officer.  And Ronald Hampton, a former 23-year community relations officer in Washington, D.C.

We welcome you all to the “NewsHour.”

Chief Esserman, let me begin with you. Let’s talk first about how police officers evaluate a threat. How — how — is there a universal training that officers learn on how to do that?

DEAN ESSERMAN, Police Chief, New Haven, Connecticut:  We’re trained in similar ways, different priorities.

But police officers are trained to go and to serve and to protect.  And, sometimes that means using force, and sometimes that means slowing down the tempo and using what we know how to use best, which is a conversation.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  And, Professor Klinger, as someone, as we just said, as a former police officer, how do you strike that balance between a time to — to be prepared to use force it, if necessary, and on the other hand it’s a time to calm things down?

DAVID KLINGER, University of Missouri-Saint Louis:  Well, I think you’re always prepared to use force, and that’s the key, is you have to understand that these things can escalate quickly.

But, as the chief indicated, our best tactic is to create some time and talk to people.  The vast majority of the time, we’re going to be able to talk people into jail.  The vast majority of time, when people are upset, we can calm them down, but there’s times and places where we can’t.  And if it doesn’t get to that point, the person remains agitated and a threat emerges, either to an officer or to a civilian, then the police have to move for a forceful action.

Unfortunately, sometimes, the first moment an officer arrives on scene, that’s a moment where there’s a threat, and the officer has to take physical force as the first option, essentially.