bility.

botter ovorsight ol
 Engel says. “So you need a strong use-of-force policy
that emphasizes the use of de-escalation tactics.
And you need to couple that with accountability and
supervisory oversight—and then add in the training
component. Agencies that have been doing [these
things] are [anecdotally] reporting success.” Simi-
larly, Campaign Zero reports that the departments
with the lowest rates of police killings and officer
lack people are about three times more likely than deaths employed four or more of the organization’s
8 Can’t Wait strategies aimed at reducing the use of
force. In addition to de-escalation mandates, this
B
campaign calls for measures such as banning choke
white people to be killed by a police officer. Outrage over this holds and changing how the use of force is reported.
long-running and relentless situation boiled over in the sum- Still, measures seeking to reduce the violence—or
the unevenness in how it is carried out—without ad-
mer of 2020, with people across the U.S. taking to the streets to dressing its root cause may be seen as inauthentic.
protest the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so For example, law-enforcement officials in some cities
many others. The demonstrations—which themselves were have marched and knelt alongside protesters. Such
actions—viewed by many as a show of solidarity—
largely peaceful—have involved notable incidents of police have served to de-escalate heated situations, but
violence toward protesters. These events have further amplified questions some question the sincerity of these gestures.
about officers’ use of force and one öf the most popular strategies aimed “at De-escalation is a code word for pacification,”
says Christen Smith, an associate professor of an-
reducing it: de-escalation. thropology and African and African diaspora stud­
The 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in form of de-escalation training, although it is not
Ferguson, Mo., and the surge of civil unrest that fol- always mandatory. But U.S. news outlets have
ies at the University of Texas at Austin. “Policing in
the Americas uses code words in order to try to
lowed prompted then president Barack Obama to reported numerous, often startling stories of police frame violent actions as something less violent than
assemble the President’s Task Force on 21st Century violence against individuals and groups of protesters what they really are,” adds Smith, who researches
Policing. A resulting report called for nationwide across the country. Many departments in cities state violence in the region, with focuses on Brazil
changes in law enforcement, with the aim of pro­ where such uses of force have taken place—including and the U.S. She contends that calls for de-escala-
moting “effective crime reduction while building those in Seattle and Phoenix (neither of which re- tion training—especially in the absence of more
public trust.” De-escalation was one strategy that sponded to requests for comment)—require their comprehensive change—can be used as a political
subsequently gained many new followers. officers to undergo training in de-escalation. So why tooi to “gift wrap violence in a prettier package”
Although the appröach is widely employed to re- does it often break down? rather than a method to reconfigure the system to
duce violence and aggression in health care and keep communities safe in ways that feel equitable.
mental health settings, its application for law en­ DE-ESCALATION IS NOT ENOUGH
forcement is poorly defined. In a policing context, in 2016 campaign zero —a law-enforcement re­ WHAT WORKS
de-escalation aims to decrease the use of force form initiative developed by Black Lives Matter some activists and law-enforcement officials say
against civilians by teaching officers techniques to activists—helped to conduct an analysis of 91 police it may be possible to change police departments—or
slow things down and use time, space and commu- departments in the largest U.S. cities. The study the criminal justice system itself—to accomplish
nication to find an alternative—practices that run found that de-escalation mandates were associated that goal. Indeed, the communities that have dem-
counter to much law-enforcement training. Police with lower rates of police killings and fewer officers onstrated success have taken a comprehensive ap-
are traditionally taught to make decisions and act as being killed or assaulted in the line of duty—even proach to reducing police violence. The police de-
quickly as possible. And they learn early on that after accounting for a number of departmental and partment in Camden, N.J., for example, was dis-
society not only authorizes hut sometimes expects social factors. Although a review of cross-disciplin- banded and rebuilt with a new vision in 2013.
them to use force as a means of coercion. ary research on de-escalation found that such train­ “We try to meet the community before anything
Unlike strategies that specifically target discrimi- ing probably has slight-to-moderate benefits and is an emergency, before there is a crisis,” says Cam­
nation—from the racial sensitivity training adopted few drawbacks, much of the research has method- den police captain Zsakhiem R. James. “We partner
in the 1980s to more recent implicit bias training—de- ological weaknesses—including a lack of control with the community, so we’re not seen as an occupy-
escalation is touted by proponents as a means of reduc­ groups, dependence on correlational designs and ing force.” In addition to such engagement—which
ing violence across the board. The appröach, they use of self-reporting rather than observation-based sometimes means hosting and attending barbecues
Mark Felix Getty Images (preceding pages}
say, protects civilians and officers alike and enables data. Thus, despite promising early findings, Engel and block parties—the department now has a strict
police to peacefully manage crowds of protesters. argues that there is not yet enough systematic re­ and clear use-of-force policy, as well as extensive
De-escalation has become one of the types of search about de-escalation in policing to show it is and ongoing training in de-escalation. This training
training most frequently requested by police depart- effective or to guide its use. includes scripts and virtual role-playing, along with
ments in recent years, says Robin Engel, a professor But what is increasingly clear, she says, is that thorough oversight procedures such as monitored
at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Criminal even effective de-escalation training is probably an body cameras, James says. What is more, he adds,
Justice. A recent CBS News poll of 155 departments insufficiënt solution if it is used on its own. “We the department has a deep commitment to this dif­
indicates that at least 71 percent of them offer some know that training alone doesn’t change behavior,” ferent appröach to policing. “This entire depart­
96 I SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN | SPECIAL EDITION | SUMMER2021
ment is community-based,” he says. “If you can’t
abide by our policies, you just don’t need to work
here. People employed by us and working for us
must abide by it.”
This type of multipronged strategy to address
• state-authorized violence and change the face of
policing in the U.S. has been gaining traction. Min-
neapolis has vowed to dismantle its own police de­
partment and replace it with a community-led alter­
native. And state and national lawmakers have in-
troduced bills that would restrict the use of force,
increase civilian oversight and develop tracking sys-
tems for officer misconduct. On June 3, 2020, the
Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) re-
leased several recommendations to local, state and
national officials that integrate immediate interven-
tions (including de-escalation) aimed at reducing
DE-ESCALATION TRAINING CAN BE USED
AS A POLITICAL TOOL T0 “GIFT WRAP
VIOLENCE” RATHER THAN AS A POLICING
METHOD T0 KEEP COMMUNITIES SAFE
the use of force with system-wide accountability and
steps toward structural change.
“Law enforcement is the dumping ground. When
you don’t know who to call, you call the cops,” says
former police officer Kyle Kazan, who is now a
speaker for LEAP. “You have to take a step back and
ask, ‘What does society need law enforcement for?’
We need to rethink how we handle society’s chal-
lenges.” He argues that ending the War on Drugs,
increasing funding for dedicated social workers and
outreach workers, and ensuring that officers are
held liable for their actions within and across de­
partments would better position law enforcement
to help communities.
Such interventions, as well as the movement to
defund the police, start to address one of Smith’s
major critiques of a reformist appröach that stops at
training. “There’s a deep-rooted connection between
the way that we understand justice in this country,
white supremacy and anti-Blackness,” she says, not-
ing that modern policing in the U.S. grew, in part,
out of slave patrols in the South. “How do you undo
that culture? As anthropologists, we know that the
only way cultures die is when they disappear into
history because of some catastrophic event [such as
the collapse of a nation or descent into civil war],
What our generation is tasked with is trying to fig-
ure out a way to dismantle this culture without a
catastrophic event.” ffl
Stacey McKenna is a medical anthropologist and freelance journalist
who writes about science, travel, and all things equine.
SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM | 97
 Incremental reforms will not fix this
perverse system: Choke holds have been
banned in New York City for decades,
and the Minneapolis Police Department
requires officers to intervene when a fel-
low officer uses excessive force, but nei-
ther rule prevented the death of Garner
or Floyd. Nor will technology turn the
OPINION tide. Body cameras have made the prob-
lem of police brutality against minority

i-» How to .
communities harder to ignore but have
not reined it in.
Instead we need to rethink how we
conceive of and support public safety so
that it encompasses all communities.

Remvent
One way to do this would be to create
policies that use social workers to tackle
issues that have been dropped at the feet
of police who are ijl trained to handle
them, such as homelessness, mental ill-
ness and working with young people to
prevent violence. Law-enforcement pro­
fessionals themselves have highlighted
this problem, and some alternative pro­
grams point toward solutions.
For example, community-based vio-
lence-prevention groups such as Cure
Violence have lowered shootings and
killings in cities such as Baltimore and
Philadelphia where they have operated,
according to policing researcher Alex
Vitale of Brooklyn College. And pro­
grams such as CAHOOTS in Eugene,
Ore.—which routes emergency calls
about mental illness to social workers
Departments have turned into enemies instead of the police—and the Denver
Alliance for Street Health Response offer
of communities they are sworn to protect models for other cities to explore. Taking
responsibility for dealing with these non-
By the Editors crime issues out of the hands of police RETURN ING SWAT TEAMS AND TACTICS
removes officers from situations beyond
their training and reduces the chances of
TO THEIR PROPER USE WOULD REDUCE
T WAS NOT JUST A KNEE PINNED TO GEORGE FLOYD’S NECK THAT KILLED HIM. OR GUNSHOTS
encounters escalating to violence. Fewer THE CHANCES FOR UNNECESSARY VIOLENCE.
than 1 percent of the thousands of calls
that killed Breonna Taylor. Or a choke hold that killed Eric Garner. It was also centuries of CAHOOTS responded to in 2019 necessi-
systemic racism that have festered in U.S. society and institutions, including our overly puni- tated police backup, the group reports. whelmingly used for serving search war­ ciplinary records, budget allocations and
In designing these policies, officials must rants and that communities of color are other areas publicly available. Depart­
tive, adversarial system of policing. And videos of the recent police-involved killings do not engage communities—particularly those disproportionately targeted. Returning ments have resisted releasing such infor-
show the broader toll that stop and frisk, arbitrary arrests and other aggressive law-enforce- who have suffered most from overpolic­ SWAT to its proper use—and restricting mation, so Congress needs to pass laws
ment actions have taken on Black and other minority communities. Nationwide and funda- ing—to understand what issues are most the access of wider police departments to that mandate that they do so.
important to them in ensuring safety. military-style weapons or dogs trained to Major police reform will take perse-
mental police reform is long overdue. A necessary step will be to address bite people—would reduce the chances verance and money. (Some of the financ-
Since the advent of government-led researcher Peter Kraska of Eastern Monica Bell documents that individuals the militarization of policing. The use of for unnecessary violence and harm. ing can come from reducing police bud­
“wars” on crime and drugs in the past Kentucky University. In addition to this subject to such overpolicing do not see SWAT teams and tactics has ballooned Accountability is another key ele­ gets.) These approaches are a starting
decades, policing has taken a decisively antagonistic culture, several studies police as protecting them, even when well beyond the threatening hostage or ment. Federal and local officials need the point as we tackle the way dangerous
violent turn, and police departments show that police are more likely to stop, they are concerned about violence in active-shooter situations they were political will to create truly independent biases, especially racism, have become
often see themselves as adversaries of arrest and use force against Black and their communities. They report unease intended to confront. Studies by Kraska, oversight mechanisms. But accountabil­ embedded in police and other power-
the very communities they are meant Latinx people than white people. Re­ even after an encounter where officers the American Civil Liberties Union, and ity also depends on police departments ful institutions. We must work to root
to safeguard, according to policing search by Yale University sociologist acted appropriately. others show SWAT teams are over- making data on killings, use of force, dis- them out. ffl

98 | SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN | SPECIAL EDITION | SUMMER2O21 Hlustration by Alexandra Bowman SCIENTIFICAMERICAN.COM | 99