While the threat posed by COVID-19 has lessened as vaccination rates increase and treatment options improve, it is not yet safe to lift all masking and distancing requirements. In the West Midlands, opinions of the government’s management of the pandemic are varied. Disagreement with government policies at local, regional, and national levels has contributed to instances of noncompliance, public frustration, and, sometimes, escalations into dangerous situations.
To help mitigate preventable incidents of violence or police involvement, we propose a training program designed to give police officers the interpersonal and communication skills they need to deescalate situations and manage them as well as they can without elevating them to arrest. Our goal is to support officers in navigating difficult or unexpected interactions more effectively, reducing the number of arrestable escalations and minimizing the psychological and physical trauma experienced by both officers and members of the public.
The COVID-19 pandemic intensified long-standing social and economic tensions both globally and within the West Midlands. Known for its demographic diversity and large urban centers (including Birmingham, the largest city outside London), the region encompasses communities with wide variation in income, ethnicity, and political attitudes. Due to the priorities of this diverse population changing continually with local, national, and global trends created pressures felt by both residents and law enforcement during the crisis (Electoral Commission).
According to NIH studies, “the spread of COVID-19 was accompanied by news reports of surging racism, xenophobia, and hate crime all over the Global North targeting individuals of East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) descent….a study of UK police data concluded that racial hate crimes against ESEAs increased by 70 – 100% at the beginning of the pandemic in early February and persisted until November 2020.” (Gram)
At the same time, lockdowns disproportionately affected people with lower incomes, limited job security, and reduced access to healthcare. Minority and working-class populations experienced a greater risk of exposure, constrained living conditions, and fewer financial supports during extended lockdown periods.
The tiered COVID regulation system adopted in the West Midlands intensified issues faced by these minority and working-class communities. Areas with higher population density were placed under stricter regulations, including longer lockdowns, stricter masking requirements, and more frequent contact with police officers. People in higher-tier areas were more likely to experience job loss, reduced mobility, and the death of loved ones. All of these factors contributed to frustration and strained relationships with authorities. (Birmingham City Council, Smith)
Service businesses, like restaurants and entertainment venues, experienced extended closures and reduced foot traffic, destabilizing economies and communities. These struggles came alongside the Brexit transition. There were many factors that influenced the decision for the UK to leave the European Union – the EU’s austerity measures delayed England’s recovery from the 2008 recession; the Arab Spring created anxiety about a wave of immigration; the inherently divisive decision was intentionally polarizing to strengthen party lines and incite political discourse – concerns about national identity and the future of the UK economy were only exacerbated by the pandemic.
All of these overlapping stressors contributed to a diminished trust in government authority. For police officers, levels of occupational stress increased along with exposure to public conflict and expanded responsibilities beyond their usual tasks. Studies show that officers are already at heightened risk for psychological trauma and compassion fatigue during more normal times. Additional studies have identified the correlation between self-care practices and these negative psychological effects – the less self-care was taken, the greater the impact on the officer (Salters-Pedneault, Burnett).
Healthy dialog is needed to build a thriving community. To address difficulties that police face in enforcing regulations in safe and productive ways, we advise that training in empathy, communication, and deescalation can help minimize stressors, establish understanding and cooperation, and improve relationships. Given the unique pressures of the pandemic in the West Midlands, such training is especially relevant for fostering more effective, respectful, and trauma-informed police interactions.
Building an empathy training program poses some challenges. One of the most significant is the way officers respond to new training based on their experience level. Less experienced officers are likely to take to training more readily because they have fewer ingrained habits. Veteran officers may have established behaviors that they believe to be effective, making it more difficult to adjust their reflexive behavior in difficult situations. Existing communication models, such as “Verbal Judo,” have produced mixed results for police departments, highlighting the need for evidence-based training that addresses the appropriate context. (Fernando-Frescas, Giacomantonio)
The political climate also presents its own challenge. While police officers are not elected officials, they operate under the oversight of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), who are elected. PCCs need to consider the views and priorities of their supporters, which can affect decisions about training, resource allocation, and department priorities. Programs that do not align with voter expectations or campaign platforms might have low adoption rates. (Electoral Commission)
Both officers and civilians are exposed to a lot of misinformation on a daily basis. From anti-science government officials, internet trolls, and armchair physicians, the pandemic receives constant media coverage through news outlets and self-publishing. Officers not only need to avoid consuming harmful material, but they need to be able to respond appropriately when confronted with such material in the midst of enforcing COVID regulations. Some officers may even be a source of misinformation. While they are able and allowed to hold whatever beliefs they choose, they can not be allowed to voice opinions that encourage unlawful behavior as representatives of the government.
There are also some potential challenges in training logistics. Training officers during their work hours requires a significant investment of time and staffing resources. Officers may feel frustrated by the expectation that they participate in sessions that they view as non-essential to their work. In some cases, they may also perceive interpersonal-skills training as condescending or as an implication that they are personally responsible for strained police / community relationships.
For training to be effective, instructors need to model the empathy, respect, and transparency they are developing in officers. This includes framing the training as a supportive professional development tool, not a corrective measure. Trainers also need to be able and willing to respond to officers’ counterpoints and acknowledge situations in which suggested strategies might not apply. By acknowledging officers’ experiences and emphasizing that the training is meant to work for them, we can create an environment that encourages openness and facilitates meaningful learning.
The overall purpose of this training program is to minimize trauma to individuals and to the community. Officers face risk every day and the stress that this causes can take a toll on their lives and their ability to function in their work.
We will help officers reduce their stress levels. In order to work toward this, we will provide training on self-care behaviors, language skills to articulate their feelings and needs, and strategies to put stressful situations into perspective and build resilience. The measurement of this outcome will be measured by self-reporting and written reflections.
We will equip officers with deescalation skills to manage difficult situations. We will use real-life examples and examine possible behavior modification strategies that will control the situation and improve outcomes for both officers and civilians. This outcome will be measured by comparing the proportion of encounters that escalate to arrest or other actions week over week and look for a downward trend.
We will deepen officers’ connection to the community. We will explore history and current events in the West Midlands through the lenses of many different, but significantly present, demographics in the community. We will encourage officers to reflect on their own experiences and compare their views with others’. This outcome will be measured by lesson reviews. Because this is more of an expository topic, we will use a gamified assessment in which an incentive is offered to “winners”.
We will develop an environment of mutual accountability. Officers will be encouraged to choose language that expresses respect and empathy for every citizen. We will ask officers to reflect on interactions and share examples of conversations in which they used intentionally modified language and how it affected the outcome of the interaction. Success will be achieved by processing these reflections and supporting officers until they report positive changes in their interactions.
Empathy comes from understanding. The best way to develop empathy for the people in an officer’s community is to learn about them. Our proposed training program will pair generalized content about communication, psychology, and conflict resolution with exposition about the history of the region and its current circumstances.
It’s important for officers to connect this knowledge with their observations of behavior and needs expressed by their community members. This will help them identify the motivations and fears that lead to different behaviors and ways to respond in order to express understanding and good will, particularly in difficult conversations and through disagreement.
Building on the foundation of their own experiences, officers will develop an understanding of the connections between outside factors, population identities, and the interactions they influence.
We recommend activities like:
When developing interpersonal skills, there is no fresh start. Everyone has biases, traumas, successes, and failures that, along with their inherent disposition, shape the way they interact with others. This is a bit of a double-edged sword. We can rely on the experience and intention of the officers, but we may have some officers with deeply ingrained behaviors that are ineffective and need to be unlearned.
Following this, we recommend training built on a combination of cognitivist and behaviorist theory. We will need to encourage the reflection and discussion present in cognitivist learning, but we should reward and model specific outward behaviors as the outcome we seek is the application of these behaviors.
The balance of cognitive and behavioral learning will manifest mostly in evaluation and assessment. While we do not recommend formal assessment, it is important to directly model and acknowledge appropriate strategies and behaviors. Mock scenarios and body cam footage reviews are ways to assess student progress, align learning, and identify necessary training modifications.
Language is a cornerstone of relationship development. Language is always evolving, and especially when communicating with people whose cultural identities are different from ours, it’s important to make an effort to be respectful and to seek clarity and understanding above anything else. In addition to the formal language involved in law enforcement, officers can equip themselves with common phrases and vocabulary to use in specific situations that deal with COVID regulations. While facilitating, trainers should help officers develop standard ways of speaking about different topics so that they send consistent messages that are assertive and respectful.
Trainers should also make an effort to assess the language use of the officers and make sure they are accommodating norms and patterns to the best of their ability.
In order to center language in the training, spoken exchanges should be a part of each lesson. Whether through role playing or speaking during a discussion, officers should be encouraged to practice empathetic, deescalating language in a variety of situations.
In a discussion-based reflection, officers might be asked to review some body cam footage of a confrontation over COVID regulations (sourced from another department by FOIA request).They will then rescript the interaction as a group. What changes in the officer’s behavior might have led to a different outcome? Do they recognize any of their behaviors in the example? Or are they surprised to see anything? Are they able to understand and identify what is motivating the civilians’ behavior? Was the civilian aware of the regulation they were breaking?
The trainer will be responsible for making sure that officers feel comfortable voicing dissenting opinions and taking the risk of speaking first or being wrong. They will be responsible for providing data and evidence to support their suggestions and for encouraging positive behavior, like empathizing with both parties, noting that there are multiple ways to react to the same situation, and making space for others to contribute their thoughts.
One of the issues affecting COVID regulation and infractions is the changing tier system. Residents are not always aware of which tier they are in, or what regulations they are meant to follow. Even if they are aware, they might not understand the reasoning behind their assigned tier level.
Officers need to know all current regulations and their department’s location in the tier system. They will be presented with this information in the same formats that are offered to civilians and then take an assessment to test their knowledge.
They’ll then brainstorm together and generate some ideas about how to correct or provide information while on the job and write some suggestions for their supervisors and regional leaders about how to better present information to civilians.
We will begin with a discovery phase in which we gather information regarding the following:
We will meet with supervisors and office managers to develop plans for spaces and technology needs for officers to attend in-person training. We will develop a schedule and determine groups for training that work with shift times.
We will develop content based on the results of our discovery work, have that content reviewed by our peers, and then present it to supervisors to gather feedback. We will work through three rounds of feedback and then polish any design and production issues.
We will write messaging to introduce the training program to officers and field any questions or concerns expressed by participants (to be sent by email and memo). We will develop messaging to address frequently asked questions and clarify anything that was misunderstood. We will follow up twice before training begins.
We will have practice sessions to rehearse the performance aspects of delivering training and make sure our timing and A/V plans are solid. We will have all physical materials printed and collated.
We will report on progress each week and track emerging issues and successes. We will collect content to suggest media placement about this measure for the police department. After the course of training is complete, we will conduct surveys with all involved parties and record comments and suggestions for improvement. We will offer resources for ongoing development, including a proposal for an additional round of training sessions.
Electoral Commission. “Police and Crime Commissioners.” Electoral Commission, https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/how-elections-work/types-elections/police-and-crime-commissioners.
Gram, Lu, and Ada Mau. “’We are not the virus’-Experiences of racism among East & Southeast Asian heritage young people in London during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.” PLOS global public health vol. 4,1 e0002016. 24 Jan. 2024 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0002016
Birmingham City Council. (2020, September). New coronavirus restrictions for Birmingham. Birmingham City Council. https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/news/article/734/new_coronavirus_restrictions_for_birmingham
Smith, L E et al. “Tiered restrictions for COVID-19 in England: knowledge, motivation and self-reported behaviour.” Public health vol. 204 (2022): 33-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2021.12.016
Salters-Pedneault, Kristalyn, Anna M. Ruef, and Scott P. Orr. “Personality and Psychophysiological Profiles of Police Officer and Firefighter Recruits.” Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 49, no. 3, 2010, pp. 210–15. Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.03.037
Burnett, M. E., Sheard, I., & St Clair-Thompson, H. (2019). The prevalence of compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and perceived stress, and their relationships with mental toughness, individual differences and number of self-care actions in a UK police force. Police Practice and Research, 21(4), 383–400. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2019.1617144
Fernando-Frescas, Nathan. “How to Use ‘Verbal Judo’ to Defuse a Tense Police Situation.” Colorado Public Radio, 9 Aug. 2016, https://www.cpr.org/show-segment/how-to-use-verbal-judo-to-defuse-a-tense-police-situation/
Giacomantonio, C., Goodwin, S., & Carmichael, G. (2019). Learning to de-escalate: evaluating the behavioural impact of Verbal Judo training on police constables. Police Practice and Research, 21(4), 401–417. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2019.1589472
This case study explored the design of an empathy and de-escalation training program for police cadets in a fictional English community experiencing heightened tensions between residents, public officials, and law enforcement. Drawing on qualitative research, regional demographic data, and learning theory, the project proposed a research-informed training strategy, measurable learning outcomes, evaluation methods, and an implementation timeline. The final recommendations also considered misinformation, community outreach, social media, and potential resistance from stakeholders.
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