How Does it End Well?<subtitle>An Interview Study of Police Officersʼ Perceptions of De-escalation</subtitle>

Abstract

Conflict de-escalation in police-citizen encounters is an under-researched topic despite increased focus from the public and the media. This paper aims to increase the understanding of how police officers attempt to de-escalate conflict through detailed accounts of actual conflicts. The study is based on seven qualitative interviews with Norwegian police officers and has a case-control-inspired design. The informants were asked to describe three ordinary encounters: one verbal conflict, one conflict involving threats, and one physical conflict involving force or violence. The interviews put specific focus on the behaviors the informants reported doing. The analysis revealed three ways de-escalation can be performed to manage conflicts. First, the informants emphasize verbal and nonverbal communication in three ways: calming, autonomy-enhancing, and commanding. Secondly, they describe how they reduce physical opportunities in order to de-escalate, by either delimiting physical space or by the use of force. Lastly, the informants also report on ways to prevent a conflict from escalating in the first place. These accounts highlight the informantsʼ understanding of de-escalation and are useful to understand how officers de-escalate conflicts in action. I discuss the relevance of the findings as well as the fruitfulness of the case-control-inspired interview technique.

Keywords

• De-escalation
• police-citizen encounters
• policing
• use of force