Though de-escalation is considered a cornerstone of policing, there is little research on how it is defined, applications in the field, and the impact of de-escalation training on officer behavior. The Tempe (AZ) Smart Policing Initiative (SPI) project attempted to fill this gap through the development, delivery, and evaluation of a customized de-escalation training program for sworn field personnel. The curriculum, rooted heavily in the local...

The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) of 2017 was signed into law in January 2018, acknowledging the need to support agencies in their efforts to provide employees the mental, emotional, and physical health resources they deserve. As a result, agencies are looking for ways to implement wellness programming. This class will address the implementation of “wellness tactics” in all areas of the agency to help faci...

Immediate response to natural disasters relies on our criminal justice professionals to be part of the emergency response team. As shown with more intense hurricanes impacting coastal areas, ice storms in Texas, fires in California, heatwaves in the Northeast and Midwest with many of these communities further stressed from other threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of attention has been focused on issues pertaining to infrastruc...

Motivational Conversation is a process that is multi-faceted, easy to learn, and will help you get the best out of individuals, students, teams, communities, and organizations. It is applicable in both professional and personal endeavors. Motivational Conversation has its roots in the adult learner environment where instruction is student-centered, conversationally oriented, and leads students along a path of self-discovery. Too many times ins...

We’ve seen the memes, and heard it directly from officers, “employees don’t leave the organization because of the work, they leave because of their bosses”. Officers are leaving their agencies because due to a lack of support or appreciation. This disillusionment is a direct result of poor leadership. Police and Corrections officers will tolerate a lot, but not being thrown under a bus or hung out to dry. Join us as we...

We all have stories. Some more than others but remember, it isn’t a competition, and we are all in this together. If you are in a helping profession, you have a story or more than likely, A LOT of stories. Wendy Hummell, Darren Ivey, and Brenda Dietzman will give you tools and tips for a more resilient life and answer your questions during this resilience-building discussion panel. The panelists have over 75 years of combined law enforce...

Advances in forensic technology confirm that traditional interviewing and interrogation techniques that rely on overly coercive tactics and clever psychological tricks can generate false confessions, alienate juries, or lead to premature termination of the interview due to emotional or legal shutdowns. The Inductive Interview System is designed and proven to overcome these pitfalls of other interviewing techniques and produce credible confessi...

Any effective Crime Gun Intelligence Program relies on the expeditious processing of firearms-related evidence to achieve the goal of intelligence lead, firearms-based investigations. The possible intelligence gained through National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) Leads loses its value the longer it takes to identify the associations and pass that information to investigators. In NIBIN processing, TIMELINESS is crucial. As la...

The effective use of technologies can effectively offset low staffing and improve overall capabilities of law enforcement agencies. The Chula Vista (CA) Police Department has been nationally recognized for their game-changing Drone as a First Responder (DFR) program as well as other innovative uses of emerging technology that provide enhanced, yet cost-effective response capability. A key factor in CVPD’s successful deployment of technol...

Dr. Renee J Mitchell, the author of Twenty-one Mental Models That Can Change Policing, reviews the main mental models that can lead to unique solutions and better problem-solving. This method can be used for any policing issue an agency is facing: from recruiting and retention to violence, or reallocating services to non-sworn responses. Rather than a prepackaged, “one-size-fits-all” solution, this session will provide a critical t...