Speaking to a standing-room-only at the Ohio Police Chief’s conference, there were reactions and whispering when we opened with, “Most of your officers are lacking in Emotional Intelligence, and it’s not their fault!” and when no one walked out, we knew they wanted an explanation.
All the Chiefs agreed that, “Nothing good ever happens when an officer rolls out of their patrol car in Anger. That call will get escalated unnecessarily… and someone will likely get called into IA.”
The Chiefs looked at the RITE Ladder we gave them, and saw the emotion of LOVE lives at the top, and ANGER lives towards the bottom. It’s easy to see, that if an officer spends most of their time towards the bottom of the Ladder (where Anger, Frustration, and Blame live) it’s very difficult to treat others with:
- Patience
- Kindness
- Protection
- Fairness
To truly promote Bias-Free Policing, we have to acknowledge that OUR emotions play a big roll in how we treat others. Emotional Intelligence is at the core of creating a bias-free agency. When we start to understand our emotions, can start to control them. Calls get de-escalated when emotions are in-check.
“Expecting police officers to recognize their unconscious biases, and treat everyone fairly, without giving them the proper Tools, is setting them up for failure.” ~ Linda Webb
In 2016, 149 officers (police and corrections) committed suicide. The training that agencies have provided to officers to engage in bias-free policing, which ultimately helps to de-escalate 95% of calls, has been sub-par.
As a standard practice, we give officers ample firearms training when we issue a firearm, yet on 95% of calls, the officer is using their mouth (communication skills and EI), before using a weapon. Emotional Intelligence (EI) that improves their communication skills, IS the missing link!
Officers report in our post-training survey they want more EI training… their agency needs it!
We can’t expect the police officer to treat others fairly (Social Intelligence) until they treat themselves better first, with Emotional Intelligence.
RITE Training promotes Bias-Free Policing to de-escalate 95% of calls. Unique cultural diversity with EI & SI improves communication, builds Career resiliency, and improves Department morale. See our EVENTS page for a training near you, or become a Host site! Contact us about TRAINING for your agency.
