In a recent instance highlighting the effectiveness of de-escalation tactics, officers from the Minneapolis Police Department’s 2nd Precinct responded to a call concerning a woman reportedly menacing people with a knife, a situation which could have escalated into violence but was resolved without the use of force. According to a social media post by the Minneapolis Police Department, city camera operators were able to quickly locate the woman, enabling the swift direction of ground officers to her location.
Upon arrival, the officers encountered the woman still armed, and the situation, seemingly fraught with the potential for harm, yet one officer had armed herself not with the threat of lethal force but with a less-lethal alternative, which thankfully, she did not have to employ. “Thanks to officers monitoring city cameras, the woman was quickly found and other officers were directed to her location,” the Minneapolis Police Department said on Facebook, describing the cohesion between surveillance and the patrol unit as a principal factor in the resolution of the incident. Trust in their de-escalation training allowed the officers to do what is too often left out in these stories – they talked her down, using “calm communication and de-escalation skills to convince the woman to drop the knife,” as per their report…