Welcome to From Insults To Respect.
As I write this post, we are into the third week of the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin. The trial involves Mr Chauvin’s use of force with George Floyd, which began when a store employer from Cup Foods was paid by Floyd with a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase some cigarettes. When a store employer demanded that Floyd return the cigarettes, he refused, and consequently the employer called the police.
At 8:08, police officers Kueng and Lane arrived, briefly entered Cup Foods, and then crossed the street to Floyd’s SUV. At 8:12, a mere four minutes after arriving, the two officers had handcuffed Floyd, and Kueng had assisted Floyd to sit on the sidewalk against the wall in front of a restaurant.
At 8:13, Kueng and Lane told Floyd he was under arrest and walked him to their police car across the street. When the officers tried to get Floyd to enter the back of the police car, Floyd fell to his knees, clearly not wanting to enter the vehicle, and he explained, he was not resisting, but that he was recovering from COVID-19, that he was claustrophobic, had anxiety, and that he did not want to sit in the car. Despite this, Kueng and Lane continued to try to put him in the car, while Floyd begged them not to, repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe” and offering to lie on the ground instead.
At 8:17, officers Chauvin and Thao arrived in another police car, joining Kueng and Lane and two other officers who arrived in another police car, with Chauvin assuming command. By 8:19, two minutes after arriving, Chauvin pulls Floyd away from the police car, Floyd falls to the pavement, and while Floyd lay on his chest with his cheek to the ground, still handcuffed, Chauvin begins to press his knee against Floyd’s neck. Meanwhile, Kueng applies pressure to Floyd’s torso, and Lane applies pressure to Floyd’s legs.
By now, anyone reading this post well knows that after more than nine minutes with Mr Chauvin holding his knee against Mr Floyd’s neck, Mr Floyd ends up dead.
A Call For More De-Escalation Training
Shortly after this awful incident, the media became awash with calls for police to learn de-escalation strategies. According to a Scientific American article, “de-escalation aims to decrease the use of force against civilians by teaching officers techniques to slow things down and use time, space and communication to find an alternative.” Moreover, the article reports that:
In 2016 Campaign Zero—a law-enforcement reform initiative developed by Black Lives Matter activists—helped conduct an analysis of 91 police departments in the largest U.S. cities. The study found that de-escalation mandates were associated with lower rates of police killings and fewer officers being killed or assaulted in the line of duty—even after accounting for a number of departmental and social factors.
I found myself pleased to see so many were thinking about de-escalation after this awful incident. Nevertheless, I became frustrated because none of the articles bothered to describe in a detailed manner what a de-escalation approach would look like starting at the point Chauvin arrived to arrest Floyd. So, I thought it would be worthwhile for me to offer one approach for your consideration.
A Proposed De-escalation Approach For Dealing With The Type Of Situation Chauvin Faced
In the situation we are discussing when Chauvin arrived and assumed command, Floyd had no weapon and his hands were handcuffed behind his back. Let’s imagine it was me who assumed command in this type of situation.
Me to officers on the scene: What’s going on?
Officer Lane: We are trying to arrest Mr Floyd for allegedly trying to pass a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes. Mr Floyd is reluctant to be placed in the patrol car.
Me: Did he explain why?
Officer Lane: He said he is recovering from COVID-19, that he’s claustrophobic, has anxiety, and when we tried to get him in the car he began to cry out that he is having trouble breathing. He says he is willing to lie down on the ground instead.
Me: Okay, let’s stop trying to push him into the car, and give me some time to discuss this with Mr Floyd. [I go over to Mr Floyd, and say] Hi Mr Floyd, I’m Officer Jeff Rubin, how are you?
Mr Floyd: I can’t get into the car, I’m claustrophobic, and when they try to put me in there, I start to have trouble breathing.
Me: I see. I understand being claustrophobic can bring on an anxiety attack, and that can make breathing hard. I’m here to see if I can help. Let’s slow things down. I’m not going to rush you to do anything. Take some time to catch your breath. Is there anything I can get for you, a drink, or something else?
Mr Floyd: No, I just need to settle down for a few minutes.
Me: That’s fine. Take your time. Please keep in mind this whole incident involves a fake $20 bill and a few cigarettes. The last thing that you want to do is to end up with a resisting arrest charge, or even worse, an assaulting an officer charge, both much more serious charges. If we bring you in without any more trouble, I’ll write in my report that you had some anxiety about getting into the police car but after a little breather, you were fully cooperative. That would be enormously helpful for you. So, take all the time you need to settle down, and let me know if I can be of any help in any way. [Then I would wait, planning to not say anything for up to fifteen minutes, unless Floyd begins to show some indication he wanted to express his anxiety about what he is experiencing.
If so, I would empathize with his feelings. To illustrate this, let’s see what that might look like in our next exchange].
Mr Floyd: Oh, man, when my brother Philo finds out about this, man, he’s gonna kill me. Oh, man!
Me, showing concern: You’re worried how your brother is going to take this.
Mr Floyd: Man, he’s gonna go nuts!
Me: It’s not a pleasant feeling when someone in your family gets upset with you, is it?
Mr Floyd: Man! (Then, after a brief pause) He’ll stick by me though, he always does.
Me: Nice.
Me, after 15 minutes has passed: How are you doing now, Mr Floyd?
Mr Floyd: I still need a few more minutes.
Me: OK, take a little more time. Keep in mind that we can move you into the car real slow, and I’ll go with you for the ride if you want. We can talk the whole way, and the whole ride will be over in 5 minutes. You want to give that a try?
Mr Floyd: Oh my God, my kids! What am I gonna do about them?
Me: It sounds to me like you really care about your kids (said in a warm and concerned tone).
Mr Floyd: I got five of them, and two grandkids. When I lost my job because of Covid, man, I haven’t been much help.
Me: This Covid virus has really turned a lot of lives upside down (said sadly).
Five minutes later, me: Are you starting to get ready?
Mr Floyd: Not yet, I still need some time to deal with this. Maybe I could use a drink of water.
Me: Officer Lane, please go in the store and buy a bottle of water for Mr Floyd. I’ll reimburse you out of petty cash.
Discussion
By now, you have gotten a sense of how I would have handled the situation. Every 15 minutes I would ask Mr Floyd how he is doing, empathize, and then ask him calmly if he was ready to give it a try to go to the station. From time to time I would tell him that if he starts to try and becomes too anxious, he could sit back down on the pavement until he is ready to try again.
Now, this approach may seem like it would take way too long for busy police officers to carry out, but bear in mind that the way Chauvin handled the situation, hundreds of hours and millions of dollars have been consumed. Also bear in mind that most people who are being arrested quickly cooperate with police officers to avoid being charged with resisting arrest. From my experience, typically the approach I’m advocating comes to an end within 15 to 30 minutes because people get tired of just sitting on the pavement with pedestrians passing by with puzzled looks on their faces.
So, there you have it, one specific description of what a de-escalation approach might look like. I present it as a jumping off point for further discussions on this deeply troubling episode. To my readers, please, if you will, chime in with suggestions about what you don’t like about this approach, and what might be an improvement.
My Best,
Jeff
Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional and social intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.
