Now that most of the facts of the Michael Brown shooting have become relatively clear, the focus of the case has begun to shift to finding ways to reduce and defuse deadly confrontations between police and unarmed men, mostly young.
On “Meet the Press” yesterday, one of the guests, Sherrilyn Ifill, head of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, talked about the need for more sophisticated training of law enforcement officers.
She said in part:
“You’re watching these encounters in which the police arrive on the scene, and they’re unable, it seems, to de-escalate…And so police officers need real training…And the only way we can deal with (those types of volatile situations) is to slow things down.”
That is an excellent, succinct assessment, and I hope that kind of thinking sets in and helps propel us toward an era of vastly improved police training. As it is now, it seems to me, law enforcement training puts a premium on being prepared to overcome resistance rather than calmly assessing difficult situations and trying to figure out how to “de-escalate” them.
I’m convinced Darren Wilson’s mindset was “winning” his confrontation with Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson.
After he spoke rudely, and very likely profanely, to them and they refused to comply with his demand that they get out of the street, I think he decided then and there that, by God, regardless of what ensued, they were going to do as he directed.
Predictably, the situation spun wildly out of control, culminating with Wilson chasing after Brown and Brown turning back toward Wilson, giving Wilson the rationale he needed to shoot and kill the “target,” as they say in police speak.
If Wilson had been thinking instead of acting on impulse, and if he had not barked at Brown and Johnson, violence probably would not have erupted.
But even with the encounter getting off on terribly bad footing, Wilson had several other opportunities to defuse the situation, including remaining in his vehicle — window rolled up, if necessary — and waiting for back-up to arrive.
He had radioed for help, and it arrived within seconds after the fatal shots were fired. Brown would have been apprehended in minutes.
**
On the subject of de-escalation, police and other law enforcement trainers would do well to follow the lead of experts in teacher training.
For at least the last 20 to 30 years, educators have devoted an incredible amount of time to developing classroom-management techniques designed to minimize disruptions and defuse confrontations.
As many of you know, I am a substitute teacher in the Shawnee Mission School District. I have had plenty of opportunities to see how veteran teachers and administrators keep the peace.
Two key elements to classroom control and keeping situations from boiling over are 1) staying calm and 2) reacting slowly and thoughtfully.
I particularly remember a situation that occurred in the Turner School District in 2006 or 2007. A male high school student was in an almost-empty hallway boiling over with frustration and anger. He was nearly disconnected from reality. An administrator — an assistant principal, I believe — stood on the other side of the hall, about 15 feet from the student. In a calm and steady voice, she told him to accompany her to the office where he could cool down.
I watched transfixed, waiting to see what the boy would do. About every 10 seconds, the administrator would say, “Come on, let’s go to the office. It’s going to be alright.” After about 60 seconds of spewing his frustrations and striking his fist on the concrete wall, he collected himself enough to start walking down the hall. Continuing to give him a wide berth, the administrator accompanied him.
**
On his Smart Classroom Management website, Michael Linsin, a teacher with about 25 years of experience, has a section called “how to handle an angry, verbally aggressive student.”
Here are a couple of points he makes:
Stay calm…Keeping your emotions in check is the first step to gaining control of any situation.
Take your time…You can’t go wrong taking your time in response to verbal aggression, tantrums, acting out in anger, and the like. Waiting and observing allows you to accurately assess the behavior, keeps you from losing your cool, and clearly establishes you as the leader in control of the classroom.
I suggest, in those two paragraphs, substituting Officer Wilson for the generic “you” that Linsin uses. If he had been trained to stay calm and take his time, Michael Brown would almost certainly be alive today. And if police cadets throughout the country were trained to do the same, we would have a lot fewer unarmed men, particularly black men, getting shot and killed in police encounters.
Let me leave you with this paragraph on “defensive behavior management” from the Intervention Central website.
“When students show non-compliant, defiant, and disruptive behaviors in the classroom, the situation can quickly spin out of control. In attempting to maintain authority, the teacher may instead fall into a power struggle with the student, often culminating in the student being removed from the classroom. The numerous negative consequences of chronic student misbehavior include class wide lost instructional time, the acting-out student’s frequent exclusion from instruction, and significant teacher stress. Defensive management can prevent these negative outcomes.”
Too often, the “negative outcome” from encounters between police officers and aggressive young men is death for the young men because police fall into the power-struggle trap.
Doesn’t have to be that way. Shouldn’t be that way. Maybe Ferguson will open some eyes.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Yes, if there’s one thing we desperately need to try out in this country it’s to spend even more time pandering to the thugs, rioters and looters. Clearly we have not babied and molly coddled these people enough and more is required of us.
I disagree with your assumption that cops aren’t taught to remain calm. If we learned nothing these past few weeks of rioting and lawless conduct spurred on by a racist Attorney General and President it is that the police are quite capable of remaining calm and passive. As a result, several minority owned businesses were looted and burned to the ground. Their owners have lost their incomes and many others will be put out of work. The honest and decent homeowners of the community will have lost untold thousands of dollars of value on houses simply because they are located in Ferguson, MO. The investment that you and I count on in our homes’ value has been turned into a negative for them.
Here’s a thought, when the rioting and looting started they should have taken Chicago Mayor Daily’s solution, if you riot the police will use lethal force to stop you.
Had the Ferguson PD posted members of its SWAT teams on the roof tops of the commercial area with orders to shoot anyone looting or vandalizing a store I guarantee you the riots would have been over very promptly, the honest citizens and business owners would have been spared the loss of income and property and a message would have been sent to the thugs that they are no longer welcome to prey on their neighbors.
Keep in mind that what you’re defending here is not the property itself, but the very foundational principles of our civilized society that honest citizens have a right to work for and peacefully possess that property without being terrorized by lawless thugs. If the authorities are not prepared to enforce their half of the social contract then honest citizens should, as many of the Asians did during the LA riots, organize themselves into vigilante groups and defend their own property using lethal force if necessary.
It is long since past the time in this country where we need to stop treating the predators like they’re kindergarten children and make them pay the full price for their conduct. Wilson defended himself in the only way you can with a thug like Brown, the disgrace of it is that he has lost his job and home and will pay even more than what any of us will realize for defending us from the Michael Brown’s of the world. Three cheers for Officer Wilson.
One of the five St. Louis Rams players who took the field with upraised hands yesterday summed it up best when he said:
“I just think there has to be a change,” tight end Jared Cook told The Associated Press. “There has to be a change that starts with the people that are most influential around the world.
“No matter what happened on that day, no matter how the whole situation went down, there has to be a change.”
Where are the positive role models for these kids? They exist, indeed, they’re the majority of that community. Why has the media failed to show us the citizens who, in the midst of the chaos, went to work, attended church services, escourted their kids to school and tried to continue on with their lives? Judging by the content of the news reports, these are the people whose lives really don’t matter.
Change will not come about in the inner city as long as criminals like Brown are glorified over the guy who tries to make an honest living and raise his own kids. brown was raised by his grandmother, not his so-called mother. The guy the media is calling his step-father isn’t married to his mother, he’s just shacking up with her.
So how do you change if the media glorifies the thugs and then when they’re shot they run pictures of them when they were in grade school, they brazenly lie about what happened and hold up so called parents who heretofore haven’t given a damn about them.
Perhaps the first change has to come from the pack of liars who currently provide us with the false images about these events and stop publicizing those like the clowns at the Rams game who perpetuated the lie that Brown had his hands up and was surrendering. The fact that the NFL hasn’t had the balls to punish those idiots speaks volumes to the next Michael Brown sitting in the inner city making decisions about which way his life should go.
Comparing inner city life to classroom behavior, is like comparing apples to oranges.
I agree with John. But he probably misconstrued what you are saying also.
Remember when adults were in charge, and kids were the subordinates? Not the way it works these days.
It is funny (not really) to me that you can make a comment about handing over a abusive dog owner (who threw their dog out of a window) to ISIS, but you have compassion for someone who commits crimes against their fellow man.
Or pity for someone who took 30 minutes to die in an execution that was handed down for shooting and burying a pregnant girl before she died.
As for the football players who protested, they didn’t seem to mind the extra police presence that they requested for their safety and the safety of the fans.
If they don’t get punished for this, I am curious what others in the NFL will get away with. Marshawn Lynch gets fined $100,000 for not speaking to the media, and these guys walk away clean after breaching NFL policy. Crazy, huh?
This is all very frustrating to me, as we have thrown common sense to the side of the road in favor of political correctness (which is often incorrect). I am going to quit now, before I offend any liberals who may call for me to lose my job for having an opinion.
Where are you “jenniferm” ???
Laughing out loud at that one, Jim. You definitely brightened my day with that. And of course, I always enjoy a little debate now and then, and you made for a decent referee. Maybe someday she will return…
When I told both of you to “knock it off,” she took it personally and bolted. That’s one of the many things I like about you, Jason, your skin is pretty thick.
The list of people who can discuss the issues of the day rationally and logically seems sadly very short. Trying to move forward as a society simply by crushing one’s opponents, or coercing them via tyrannical court decisions is a recipe for disaster. The only product that had an increase in sales on Black Friday was guns.
You have no idea how valuable your little blog is and it is unfortunate that more of your former colleagues don’t make use of it. Kudos to those who do come here and expose themselves to civil discussion with people who disagree with them and kudos to Fitz for providing the virtual living room to have these discussions in.
Sent to me from a retired friend of mine. Would this be perceived any differently if it was the dialogue of a white male? And why? I am also curious if anybody disagrees with the speakers opinion…
Wow. Now, he has something to say. Sadly, tho, I wonder how many of his brothers and sisters would scoff at and call him an Uncle Tom.
He makes some great points, including, “Start snitchin’…Stop doin’ crime.” Love the hat, too!