http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/opinion/for-new-yorks-police-talk-down-not-take-down.html 2016-10-06 22:31:11 For New York’s Police, Talk Down, Not Take Down The N.Y.P.D.’s deputy commissioner of training writes that the department is schooling officers in crisis communication and de-escalation techniques. === To the Editor: Re “ The New York Police Department concurs entirely with the thrust of your article about the need for police officers to develop greater skills in the management of emotionally disturbed people. Such encounters can escalate out of control if police officers misread the confusion and disorientation that such people are experiencing. Additionally, the subjects themselves may respond with even greater distress to shouted commands that could be interpreted as an aggressive gesture by the police. In the last two years, the N.Y.P.D. has worked to improve our ability to approach and manage these situations, training all our patrol officers in crisis communication and de-escalation techniques intended to talk people down instead of taking them down whenever possible. We have also instituted a more comprehensive and continuing four-day Crisis Intervention Team training, which has reached about 4,230 police officers so far. Officers are learning how to slow down situations, how to be assertive without being aggressive, and how to control voice tone and volume, as well as body language, so that people in crisis don’t perceive the officers as threats. The key to it all is “active listening,” with the officer doing more listening than talking to demonstrate empathy and establish a rapport with the subject. The great thing about this training is that our police officers embrace it as a set of extremely useful skills for managing any crisis situation, even those that don’t involve emotionally disturbed people. It provides them with alternatives to simply repeating verbal commands with increasing volume and intensity. TRACIE L. KEESEE Deputy Commissioner of Training New York City Police Department New York