De-escalation training for law enforcement officers in Arkansas

Little Rock, Arkansas — Due to the coordinated effort from Arkansas’ Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, officers from 20 different departments across Arkansas were taught a lesson on de-escalation Wednesday.

The purpose of the class was, “To be able to take those situations and to tamp down the anxiety, to lessen the threat, she said. It keeps you safe. It keeps your partners safe, and most importantly, it keeps innocent people safe.”

These officers can take the lessons and implement them in their respective departments.

During the training, they learned through different scenarios and ways of how they could avoid a physical confrontation that could result in an arrest.

“A lot of the mindset people have in the public is that law enforcement is here to show up and arrest people when in the case is we really want to find out what’s going on,” said Logan County Sheriff Jason Massey.

According to Massey, it’s a lesson on communication knowing that many of the calls they go on are a result of personal problems, not necessarily any crime that was committed.

“If we can de-escalate and go away from an arrest situation, that doesn’t affect their family, doesn’t affect their kids, doesn’t affect their job, things like that. If we can get that done upfront, get things worked out, find proper help for people, then we can actually improve lives instead of just worrying about putting people in jail,” he said.

This training was offered at no cost to the departments, and Rutledge’s office plans to continue to hold classes in the future.