Interesting research. I wonder what the impact of de-escalation policies are on citizen injuries/deaths.

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. – A research project shows that law-enforcement officers working for agencies with de-escalation policies are far more likely to killed or injured in the line of duty.

The study looked at metropolitan law enforcement agencies around the country; some have de-escalation policies while others do not.  It used data from more than 75,000 officers over a five-year period.

De-escalation policies require officers to slow things down and attempt to lessen or avoid force on all calls.

“The agencies without de-escalation policies, the number of officers killed and assaulted were dramatically lower than the agencies with de-escalation policies in place,” said Brian Landers, author of the study.

Landers, a former police officer, is chair of the criminal justice department of Madison College.   The research was done for his master’s thesis.

“I’ve had officers tell me that they are forced with decisions out on the street that goes against every facet of training and instinct of officer safety from fear they are going to be disciplined because the policy is telling them that they should not use force,” said Landers.

[…]

“Overall an officer working in a de-escalation agency, by my study, was twice as likely to be killed in the line of duty and 10 times more likely to be injured in the line of duty.”