ABSTRACT
The cost of doing business in law enforcement is an expensive undertaking when one considers staffing, vehicles, uniforms, equipment, and training. What can cripple a police department, or even a city, are payouts from useof-force complaints and workers’ compensation claims from injured officers. Police chiefs from all over the world have struggled to manage the potential
The “Sword-Man”: A Lesson in Less Lethal Options 4 Addressing the Threat 4 Less Lethal Deployment on Sword-Man 5 Training versus Reality 6 Adapting Tactics 6 Final Outcome and Lessons Learned 7
WTO: “The Battle in Seattle”—A Less Lethal Success 7 Event Review 7 Pre-event Police Planning 8 Line Officer Training 9 Tactical CART Preplanning 9 Pre-event Protester Planning 10 Event Realities 10 Priorities: Life Safety, Incident Stabilization, Property Protection 13 CART Ran Out of Ordnance 14 Political Fallout 15 Lessons Learned 16
Seattle Mardi Gras Riots 2001: Celebration Took a Turn 17 Pre-Event Decisions 17 Lessons Learned after Mardi Gras 2001 18
Canadians Love Hockey: Stanley Cup Riots, Vancouver, BC 20 De-escalation and Less Lethal Options 24 References 25
risk and minimize negative outcomes of police encounters. Furthermore, the political ramifications and shifting public opinion from high-profile incidents such as in-custody deaths or videotaped use of force (Rodney King beating) can affect police morale and even the safety of a jurisdiction (civil disturbances that escalate into riots). When force is used, people can be subjected to physical and/or emotional injury, which is usually associated with a monetary payout. Incorporating additional de-escalation tactics and training into police policy is a popular risk-management approach to mitigate these bad outcomes and reduce liability related to the use of force by the police. In reality, police officers have always applied de-escalation tactics, although it is commonly believed that de-escalation only applies to verbal tactics in calming a confrontational situation. Statistics have consistently demonstrated that in the vast majority of incidents, the responding police officers are able to control a situation with a number of tactics without resorting to the use of physical force. Studies done in the late 1990s by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) show that only 1.4%–1.9% of the 40 million people who were contacted by the police had reported force or the threat of force at least once during the contact [1] (Figure 1.1). Other studies throughout the last decade have mirrored this low figure. The BJS report also unfortunately states that media depictions continue to create the perception that use or threat of force by the
police is greater than it actually is. However, the outcry remains for officers to attempt de-escalation techniques to reduce the perceived increase of force used on the public.
