New research shows that interactions with Leon County officers are generally “calm and cooperative.”

Hostile interactions between citizens and law enforcement, “often sensationalized in the media,” are usually not reality.

That’s according to a recent study by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) with the assistance of the Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

LCSO uses de-escalation techniques that the research shows are working: Nearly all interactions with citizens between July 2023 and June 2024 were “calm and cooperative” while responding to calls.

“As we navigate the complexities of law enforcement, transparently showing cases where de-escalation proves successful reinforces the idea that our officers are committed to resolving situations peacefully and promoting a culture of mutual understanding and respect,” said the study.

While de-escalation techniques are not a new idea, research into their effectiveness in law enforcement is. “Nobody really does it,” said LCSO Sgt. said Jimmy Pittman.

Researchers are actively analyzing these techniques between 2023 and 2025 and will publish the preliminary findings at the end of last week. These are the main conclusions from their initial analysis:

More than 100,000 citizens complied with law enforcement officials

LCSO deputies interacted with 109,152 individual citizens during 53,535 incidents during the sample year, and of those, 97.26% were considered calm and cooperative. Only 2.69% appeared agitated or uncooperative.

The study further broke down interactions based on whether a citizen had mental health issues, was “chemically impaired” by drugs or alcohol, or whether the citizen had no mental health issues or disabilities.

Of the citizens deputies interacted with, 2.19% had a mental health problem and less than 1% had a chemical impairment.

“Interactions with chemically impaired people were more likely to be agitated/uncooperative,” the study said.

Most ‘agitated or uncooperative’ interactions were successfully de-escalated

The interactions rarely became hostile, but deputies were usually able to defuse the escalating situation. “The data indicate that the relatively few interactions that were characterized as agitated and/or uncooperative were successfully de-escalated most of the time by the (sampled group members)…” the study said.

Officers used force – including lethal force, a physical control tactic, or a technique other than handcuffs, escorting, pointing a firearm and more – in just 0.05% of interactions.

The study found that just over half of the deputies included in the analysis had received training in crisis intervention techniques. Nearly 60% of mental health crisis interactions were led by officers trained in crisis intervention techniques.

Fewer than 1,000 incidents resulted in at least one arrest

Of the 53,535 incidents, only 942 – or 1.76% – led to an arrest. The survey found that most arrests were “characterized as calm and cooperative,” and arrests involving agitated or uncooperative individuals rarely escalated to the use of some form of force.

Deputies were most likely to respond to calls about “disruptions.”

“During many of these incidents, violence is imminent or has already occurred before the deputy arrived,” the study said. “Citizen interactions that were characterized by (sample group members) as uncooperative and/or agitated occurred during civil disorder incidents.”

Yet, according to the study, these interactions were often de-escalated without the use of force.

Incidents occurred in all four sectors of the province, at all hours of the day

The Leon County Consolidated Dispatching Agency divides the county into four sections: the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest.

The documented interactions were spread “relatively evenly” across the province. Delegates worked with 27,082 citizens from the Northeast, 27,396 citizens from the Northwest, 21,652 citizens from the Southeast and 32,955 citizens from the Southwest.

Interactions in the Southwest had the highest percentage of agitated or uncooperative interactions that were de-escalated.

“Agitated interactions were more common during late night hours,” the study says. Yet the ‘late night’ category, from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., saw the fewest number of interactions. Most interactions took place during the evening, from 5:00 PM to 11:00 PM

LCSO uses advanced techniques

De-escalation techniques can look very different depending on the situation and the deputy, Pittman said.

Go-to methods are things like empathetic displays or delaying tactics. Being more caring and taking the time to listen to people usually calms the situation, he said. Delaying time is good in a case where a subject is becoming increasingly agitated and a deputy is waiting for backup in case that person decides to start a fight.

But while de-escalation is generally something law enforcement officers use as general problem solvers, there are a few techniques used by LCSO officers that are not commonly taught but do work. “That’s what’s exciting about this study,” Pittman said. “We can back up things that we know could work.”

Deputies are beginning to be trained in and attempt to use simple breathing exercises to calm those they interact with. They calm a situation down immediately 80% to 90% of the time, he said.

“Just the act of taking a deep breath can re-oxygenate the front brain and take away the fight or flight mentality,” he said.

The “teaming” strategy is another groundbreaking idea that LCSO is using. Officers use language like ‘us’ and ‘we’, which makes people less likely to be violent towards an officer.

What does TPD do?

The Tallahassee Police Department encourages the use of verbal techniques as a first line of defense, as stated in the police statement. general orders. “An individual’s voluntary compliance is the desired outcome of any encounter between officer and individual,” they say.

Officers may only use “response to resistance options through force of control” when it is “objectively reasonable to overcome resistance to achieve lawful objectives.”

According to the orders, they are not allowed to use unnecessary or excessive force.

TPD told the Tallahassee Democrat in a statement that all officers undergo extensive de-escalation training in a variety of situations before entering TPD’s field training program.

“Additionally, to better serve our community, TPD conducts annual de-escalation training for officers and continues to regularly reassess and improve training techniques,” the agency said.

Breaking & Trending News Reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: LCSO study debunks misconceptions about interactions between deputies and citizens