Having watched a good number of videos of public arrests it has become obvious that police work can be made smoother and easier for everyone involved with a simple step. Having been a Military Police has only highlighted this situation and the solution.
A large percentage of problems stems from one simple fact, during an arrest the subject is not familiar with police procedure. Then they cry and scream high heaven for being abused by the officers and calling them names and resisting arrest, all while saying they are not resisting.
Of course, if you as an officer like the manhandling part then my observation will be for naught, but as most officers actually want to do a good job and protect the people this is an easy step to perform.
One of the things with arrests is to show who is in control and that putting up a fight is useless. It is supposed to put the arrested in a frame of mind where they feel helpless when under control of the police and to surrender. As well as to act as a deterrent for future actions.
Which is all good and fine. But it is a huge blanket with lots of holes in it.
Informing the subject that under the law there are steps expected by the law enforcement officers which you have to follow to be able to keep your job. Rules you did not make, but if they help you against what the law demands you, together you can make it easier.
There are exact steps you take to protect yourself and the person being arrested. This includes direct physical hands on control at all times. Failure to do this too often resulted in the arrested attempting to flee and even attack the officer, thus the hands on control.
The rules you live under dictates that you assume control of the situation and everyone in it. Placing a person in handcuffs and into a patrol vehicle allows you the officer, to separate persons and gain control of the situation.
It should be made clear, if it comes up, that the phone call everyone seems to be aware of, is available at the jail. Not ever before, something nobody seems to realize.
Whenever your muscles makes your body move in some fashion counter to what the officer need is seen as resisting arrest and will result in an increased fine.
To communicate with a subject you of course need to get their attention. However, simply holding them or talking to them does not mean you actually have enough of their attention, especially when under the influence. Therefore, a direct eye to eye connection is likely to be made for communication with understanding can flow between you. Of course it depends on each subject how well they are in communication with you to start with. But when you get proper responses then you know they are likely able to do what you ask.
This can mean you must touch or grab hold of the subject, which you are probably already doing, but with the intention of reaching the person. Once you have established this connection you can inform them of the facts.
When a person is upset they become less aware of their environment and can have a harder time to follow instructions. Imagine a mother thinking their child, or loved one, as in danger and being terrified. Maybe they have been severely abused.
In that example, she might not be speaking rationally, and indeed be loud and very emotional. By establishing yourself as someone who has heard her pleas for help, by properly acknowledging her, she can feel more secure in that someone understands her situation and is there to help.
Simply demanding that she calms down is not showing that you understand her situation, in fact will do the opposite. Again a proper acknowledgement is key.
What is a proper acknowledgment?
If someone were to say they can’t find where they parked their car, that is (usually) a less threatening situation than, for example, a loved one being in danger. The key is to match their emotion when they tell you what is wrong. My one year old daughter is missing, she might be dead!! Would not be answered with a calm Thank you for telling me. What is your name?
It should be answered in kind matching her emotions, more like a sincere Oh that’s terrible! What happened!? Makes her feel you realize the seriousness of her situation, that you can be an ally and not an enemy to her.
This is the whole trick of giving a proper acknowledgment, matching the reality of person you are acknowledging. If someone said The lion ate her! you would not normally ask what her name was.
Storming in demonstrating an attitude of I MUST control everything and anything could be very useful in a military conflict where weapons are live. Not so much in a civilian environment where people are still human and where a level of measured control is very useful.
This does not mean you cannot gain control, it is how you go about getting it.
A calm demeanor and voice does communicate that you are an able person. The ideal way to control someone is to get in communication and then with certainty and a calm and collected voice announcing your intentions. All while paying close attention to each persons indicators. Do they look like they actually heard you, do they have a bewildered look on their face, or look like they did not even listen, much less understood you.
A key thing to be able to ask in a proper way is to actually care about the person. Everybody can tell if a person cares about them. It is in the voice, in the attitude and physical demeanor. Realize that in the end everyone is just a human, maybe someone who lost their way, got in way over their head. If you care that that person is cared for as you would like your own family members to be cared for, then it will greatly improve your ability to effectively control any situation.
If you don’t know what they went through before your arrival it would be a great idea to find out from each person what has happened, and properly acknowledging each person. This does not have to mean that you agree with anything, but that you UNDERSTAND. You must come across as a neutral party.
You should practice acknowledging each other where one person act like the subject and the other as the newly on the scene officer. Make up something and be that irate person, maybe someone that you have observed and BE that person. Don’t dramatize just for the hell of it but do it in a realistic way as you would expect a real person would. Make up different scenarios and act them out.
This ack will become one of your strongest tools on your tool belt. I used to have the operator at a company I worked, transfer all upset customer calls to me. Using the above ack I’ve resolved many situations from becoming a situation and have everyone satisfied that a proper solution was found.
It has the added benefit that you will gain a better understanding of what is going on with each person and can deescalate situations easier. Mindless control has limited workability but is never as effective.
When a person understands what you are doing and why, they may not be like it but it helps them in controlling themselves better, all to your benefit.