De-escalation training is not a trend but a foundation of SCPD training

By Sgt. Jeremy McClure, Community Policing Sergeant

Sioux City, Iowa - With police use of force at the forefront of national conversation, many people have vocalized the need for more de-escalation training. This training provides officers skills and tactics to use during tense situations to help resolve matters before force has to be used. For the last 20 years, the Sioux City Police Department (SCPD) has invested heavily in several methods of teaching de-escalation to its officers, to include periodic reinforcement of those lessons.

“We train all officers in verbal de-escalation and then also build that training into scenario-based training were the officer is rewarded for using verbal de-escalation,” said Sgt. Steve Ten Napel, the training coordinator with the department.

According to SCPD policy, officers will use de-escalation techniques whenever possible and appropriate to reduce the need for force.

Officer Paul Yaneff participates in VirTra training in which he interacts with a subject in emotional crisis during de-escalation training.

One of the first classes Iowa Law Enforcement Academy graduates receive from the SCPD is an eight-hour class on verbal de-escalation called “Verbal Judo”. This method of de-escalation training is based in person-centered communication skills. It teaches the officer to use empathy and active listening skills to promote collaboration between an officer and the person they have contact with. The primary goal of the techniques is to get voluntary compliance.

This training forms the basis for de-escalation and is then incorporated into other areas of the department’s training.

“We develop role-play training scenarios based on real-life encounters that an officer has an opportunity to interact with a person and utilize these techniques,” said Ten Napel.

The SCPD can use its VitTra trainer to help train de-escalation. VirTra is a simulator that looks like a giant video game. It’s equipped with the tools that an officer has at their disposal such as Tasers, pepper spray, and firearms. The trainer will play a variety of scenarios that force the officer to employ different tactics to resolve the situation.

“Each scenario has different branches that the operator can choose for the officer that is being trained, and based on how the officer responds, either de-escalate the situation or take a different path,” explained Ten Napel.

To add stress, officers in the trainer wear a small box on their back pocket. Should the situation escalate and the subject in the scenario becomes violent, the box will deliver a small shock to simulate to represent that attack.

“The point is to add stress to a scenario so that the officer must work through the stress and still use the tactics they have been taught,” said Ten Napel.

In addition to de-escalation training, the SCPD tracks incidents where officers utilize force. Lt. Chris Groves, who is in charge of the SCPD Professional Standards section, analyzes data gained from those reports and looks for trends or patterns of behavior.

“Using the data, the Professional Standards office is always looking for ways to minimize the risk to both the officers as well as the citizens involved in a confrontation by identifying training opportunities,” said Groves.

The SCPD seeks out training that will help meet its goals of reducing the need for force and improve safety for officers and citizens.

“We are always looking for ways to de-escalate,” added Groves.

As more attention is being paid to de-escalation training, the SCPD will continue to be ahead of trends in its efforts to implement this valuable training as it has done for years.

“The goal in the end is voluntary compliance,” said Ten Napel. “The more we can do to de-escalate situations that are safe to do so, the more we can reduce the need for force.”

Sgt. Steve Ten Napel conducts a debrief of a scenario during VirTra training in which he asks the officer why he made the choices he did and what other options existed as part of de-escalation training.