Verbal and Non-Verbal Indicators to Assault
When we speak about the “use of force,” I notice more and more that officers either need or want the green light to be given to them before they act. Correctional officers deep down have an intimate fear when it comes to the use of force of either reacting too soon, or too late resulting in injury of someone, or not at all. They have a natural ingrained fear of the criminals themselves, their administration not backing them for their actions or decisions as well as their peers not having their backs because of those very same reasons. They have terms thrown at them such as, “Reasonable,” “Excessive,” and “Liability,” with no clear cut explained definitions as well as no clear cut directions or leadership by the administrations. It is often said that it is easier to ask for forgiveness than to request permission, but in today’s litigious society this may be true, but painfully unforgiving on your career. Read more…
In June 1943, racial tension was close to the boiling point in Detroit, Michigan. Following a race-related fight at an amusement park, false rumors whipped both blacks and whites into a murderous rage. In the black community, the word was that some white men had thrown a black woman who was holding a baby into a lake. Whites repeated news that a mob of blacks had assaulted a white woman. 
Everyone who knows me best knows that I am big on the warrior ethos and obtaining and keeping a survival mindset. But in writing this training article I was very apprehensive on what to call it. I wanted to call it, “The Survival Mindset” but in doing so it would have indicated that we are in a survival fight for our lives with extreme peril and most administrators would have disregarded it as not applicable. I thought about calling it “The Warrior Mindset” but that would have given us a wrong public misconception that we are bloodthirsty combative killers, not good for appearances. So I sat and thought about this article and came up with a great administratively PC correct title that seemed virtually calming and non-aggressive and above all, totally crap. 
When I refer to the Hold Them and Fold Them analogy what I am talking about is knowing when its time either to engage or disengage physically from a potentially assaultive inmate. I responded to a call for assistance a few weeks ago and I observed an officer attempting to verbally de-escalate an inmate who was visible angry and violent. The officer made several mistakes in the de-escalation process but was incredibly determined to talk the inmate down without the need to use physical intervention. So determined, in fact, that he continued verbalization even after the inmate assaulted him and struck the officer in the side of the head. 
The use of force as it pertains to corrections and law enforcement is a cloudy and unfortunately not a well defined animal. I don’t understand why the use of force is not trained more throughout the country on the fundamentals, legal allowances and court cases regarding the use of force and less on the administrative strategies of what not to do. “The military trains and trains and trains and rarely fights, whereas correctional officers fight and fight and fight, but rarely train.” There are a few theories that “try” to explain why most correctional officers do not train with the same integrity and intensity as their military cousins. The only one in my opinion that cannot truly be accepted is that budget and time restraints make it difficult. This particular officer initiated action is probably the most feared and controversial and has put more officers on the street and into the jail cells that they as correctional officers patrol everyday. In my opinion I believe that officers are more afraid of being sued than they are of being assaulted while on duty. 
I am a big advocate of continuing education on job specific areas throughout your career.