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The Met Federation is supporting a major new research project into the most effective techniques for verbally persuading difficult-to-control people offenders, drunks, drug users, the mentally ill and the developmentally impaired to co-operate.
The research will be conducted mainly in London by the Force Science Research Centre, which is based in Minnesota, US. It will be led by the Centre's head, Prof Bill Lewinski, whose ground-breaking investigation of human behavior in firearms incidents was called on to exonerate the officers involved in the Harry Stanley shooting.
The Centre has been supported by the Federation on previous projects designed to enhance officer training.
Prof Lewinski explained: The core question this study will explore is how you can best gain voluntary co-operation so that force does not become necessary.
Officers sometimes get into trouble because they aren't able to accurately pick up on the clues they need to tell what approach is appropriate, or they only know one approach one which usually depends mainly on logic, which is generally has limited effectiveness with some of the difficult people they encounter.
Among other things, the study will try to identify:
• Specific behavioural clues to help officers discover easily what personality type
they are dealing with
• How to read these clues faster
• The persuasion techniques which are most likely to be successful - and those
most likely to fail - with the person the officer is dealing with.
• How clues and appropriate techniques may vary from one cultural or ethnic
group to another.
• The best training methods to ensure officers can master a range of techniques
and apply them effectively in stressful street situations.
Added Prof Lewinski: Cops aren't going to need to become psychiatric diagnosticians to be good persuaders. I believe we can come up with simple ways they can quickly characterise the difficulty they are having with an individual, and then know how to overcome it. "Today, we have many theories and techniques being taught and many methods of instruction. But we haven't yet proved what's best. Thousands of officers will be involved in this study."
