Public Safety De-escalation Tactics for Military Veterans in Crisis Beat Intro Voiceover 00:00 This is the Beat – a podcast series that keeps you in the know about the latest community policing topics facing our nation. Interview Debra Cohen 00:11 Hello, I’m Dr. Debra Cohen McCullough with the U.S. Department of Justice COPS office. I’m talking today with Wayne Shellum, Training Services Director of the Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute. He’s here to talk with us today about the Institute’s COPS-funded program called Public Safety De- escalation Tactics for Military Veterans in Crisis. Wayne, when we’re talking about types of crisis involving military veterans, what types are public safety officials encountering out in the field? And why do you think that it’s so important that this training is being offered, especially now? Wayne Shellum 00:53 Public safety professionals, particularly law enforcement first responders, are coming in contact with veterans in crisis in a number of different ways. Some incidents are obvious, such as the ultimate crime of murder. Officers are responding to calls of domestics, spousal aggression, assault—sometimes knowing that a veteran is involved but on most occasions, I suspect, that they’re not. Officers are seeing veterans in attempted suicides, in various states of depression, on medical calls, and substance abuse as well. The little less obvious contacts are happening on the street where officers are conducting traffic stops on erratic driving, speeding, and suspected driving under the influence. We want all public safety professionals to be aware of the fact that this is a community and public safety issue. Officers are getting hurt, and sometimes killed, in incidents involving a veteran in crisis. The other incidents we’re seeing is the suicide by cop phenomenon. This is a multiple victim event that impacts the vet, the officer, or officers involved, families, and entire communities. All this is fairly predictable due to the fact that over 2 million of our military personnel have been deployed since 9/11. Many of them—some estimates are over 700,000—have been deployed multiple times. Of that figure, thousands of them have been members of the Guard and Reserves. This is something new in our country, new in the history of our country. Never before have we so extensively deployed our military reserve component. That is, men and women leaving their family, jobs, communities for an extended period of time, often a year or more, and then coming back and to resume their lives. Whether a veteran is a member of the active military, the Guard, the Reserves, with the removal of combat troops in the Middle East, as we’re currently experiencing, many thousands are coming home. Public safety needs to be prepared. Debra 03:00 So, how are the goals of de-escalation different from other types of responses that an officer might use in these situations? Wayne 03:10 Well, law enforcement guidelines usually contain details covering situations involving mentally ill or emotionally disturbed persons, and during this training, we stress that, first and foremost, you’re to follow the policies of your department. The policies are important because they address issues of discretion; they refer to the local laws, the use of mental health crisis workers, and facilities in the area. I was speaking to an officer in South Carolina, in a city in South Carolina that has a major military insulation very close by. He came across a solider intoxicated and yelling in the street. He had to make an arrest and was confident he could do it by himself and handle the situation. He said that when he placed his hands on the soldier it was “all over.” He’ll never do that again, and I asked him why and he said that he didn’t realize at the time that the soldier was an Army Ranger and he was trained in hand-to- hand combat and just general defensive tactics and offensive tactics much more so than he was. He was unaware that there were alternatives, and he also said that in the future he will respond differently. Because, after the training, he realized that not only it is an officer safety issue, but that this particular veteran has gone through unique circumstances that they face when they reintegrate back in their communities out of a combat zone. De-escalation tactics class deals with specific skills, largely verbal, to effectively defuse potentially life threatening situations when responding to calls involving a veteran. It’s important to recognize that law enforcement, including their dispatchers, are going to come in contact with a veteran in crisis first. By understanding, or at least being exposed to the background issues, it gives the first responder a framework of reference when attempting to de-escalate a situation when a veteran is involved. Debra 05:17 The pilot for this course was just held June 19, 2012. It was taught by both a trainer with a law enforcement background and a trainer with a military background. And you invited many public safety components, not just law enforcement. Why did you set up the training in this particular way? Wayne 05:46 The military instructor would add significant credibility, we thought, and impact certain modules, especially when it comes down to accountability. Officers respect the military and, for the most part, consider them heroes. The tendency for officers to give them a break is real. Our military instructor stresses accountability. Officers will listen to those that have been there. It is also significant to note the similarities soldiers and law enforcement share. Both experienced trainers are able to share the experience that demonstrates this. The law enforcement trainer would also bring practical perspective to the training, citing policies and training needs and tactical considerations, including officer safety issues, types of calls, various other aspects to the training. We decided that the training could also be useful to EMS personnel as they’re a significant part of public safety first responder community. Police chaplains were in attendance; we had two yesterday at a pilot. They have a lot of tools in their toolbox to assist law enforcement. We want to include the dispatch communities; they’re the ones that answer the 911 calls and gather important information to disseminate to the responding officers. We want the training to increase the awareness of this group to ask the right questions and to be cognizant of signs and signals that may be overt or subtle to help increase the officer’s safety odds. We do stress that most service members come home and reintegrate very successfully. The training is really for the first responding law enforcement officer, the dispatcher who answers the telephone, to have an awareness—could this be a veteran? One of the examples—a yellow ribbon decal put on a law enforcement vehicle—there was also another story where a deputy stopped a driving while under the influence suspect, brought him back by the car and prior to making the arrest, putting him in the car, he advised the suspect he was under arrest and for what, and he opened up the back seat of the car and the suspect was not going to get into the back seat of the car. The whole confining cage, everything, brought back flashbacks from where he had been deployed and he was not going to get in the back seat of the car. At that point in confrontation, both the officer and the suspect knew that they were at an impasse and somebody was going to win. The suspect turned out to be a returning vet…looked at the side of the car and saw a yellow ribbon, which indicates supporting of our troops coming back home into the communities, that was affixed to the side of the car—this county decided to do that to show support for the troops. According to the deputy, he said that when the vet looked at the side of the car he stared at it for about ten seconds and then he looked at the deputy and said, “Are you really sincere, and do you really support the troops?” The deputy said, “Absolutely! They’re heroes and we absolutely support our troops coming home.” And the suspect looked at the deputy and said, “I just got back from Iraq so many months earlier.” And the deputy looked at him and said, “Well thank you for your service.” And the suspect, the combat vet, who was under arrest for DWI relaxed and said, “What do you want me to do?” And the deputy said, “I have to place you under arrest. You’re extremely intoxicated driving on the road.” And then the conversation went on, the veteran was arrested, but it was a very powerful story and it was just a decal sitting on the side of a car that diffused the situation. As an end result to the story, the deputy actually put in his report that this person was a combat veteran, and it was noted by the prosecution. The prosecutor actually, along with the defense attorney, contacted the local Veterans’ Administration and they were present during this person’s court trial and the judge, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney all worked together as a part of sentencing to get this person some help where he needed it. And it all was because of a decal on the side of a car and recognizing the fact that these people are heroes that are coming home and law enforcement knows it, but sometimes we're just unaware that they’re in our community. There are ways to reach and there are ways to diffuse potentially dangerous situations just by a decal or just by some of the things that you may say to a person that has been deployed. Debra 11:09 On behalf of the COPS office, thank you so much, Wayne, for talking about the training that the Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute is offering and if people want to find out more about this training, where should they go? Wayne 11:23 They can go on to the website www.umcpi.org. We do have a description of the training there. They can certainly call our office at area code 651.917.2255, or there’s an opportunity on the website to contact us by e-mail, and we’ll do everything we can to respond, and answer any questions that people may have. Debra 11:53 Thank you for your time. Wayne 11:55 Thank you. Beat Exit Voiceover: 11:57 The Beat was brought to you by the United States Department of Justice COPS Office. The COPS Office helps to keep our nation’s communities safe by giving grants to law enforcement agencies, developing community policing publications, developing partnerships, and solving problems. ####END OF TRANSCRIPT####