Greenville Leader

Clemson University researcher Kyle McLean will lead a team of researchers that has been awarded more than $892,000 from the National Institute of Justice to evaluate a police de-escalation training program.

“When evaluating a program such as this, just seeing an increase in methods to de-escalate a situation is important, but the possibility of making officers more empathetic in all types of encounters – not just use-of-force encounters – can really change the game," McLean, assistant professor in Clemson's Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, said. "That kind of evaluation can help separate an officer having a ‘bad day’ from a true red flag, and it can also aid in officer recruitment and mental health training.”

McLean acknowledged that the use of force was at times necessary, but police should still strive to keep its use as little as possible. 

“Use of force is going to be unavoidable in some cases, that’s just reality," McLean said. "But utilizing de-escalation tactics may reduce the level of force necessary, impact citizen perceptions of the incident and fulfill the officer’s obligation to attempt alternatives to force whenever possible."  

The program, Polis Solutions’ GIRing-In Hybrid Training, differentiates itself from other programs by its inclusion of both online and in-person delivery, its gauging of officer empathy and its focus on all police encounters, not exclusively those that end with the use of force. 

McLean has studied conflict de-escalation training programs since their rise in popularity with police departments starting around 2015. Police officers, on the aggregate, use force in only 1.7% of interactions with citizens and in 20% of arrests, according to Clemson. 

The research team will be based in Virginia Beach. The study will be built around 600 hours of officer body camera footage, according to Clemson.