De-escalation Now
Last week, authorities released body camera footage of the police-involved killing of Sonya Massey that occurred in Illinois earlier this month. The 36-year-old woman’s death was a senseless tragedy and an obvious tactical failure that must be prevented in the future. But while most of the discussion has centered around what went wrong, it is equally important to understand how this could have been avoided by using a modern police de-escalation framework.
From the beginning of the video, [content warning: the linked video contains depictions of graphic violence] the deputies demonstrate a startling lack of training. When they notice the stove is on, instead of turning it off themselves, the officers instruct Massey to, commenting “we don’t need a fire while we’re here.” This is a major tactical blunder. In an uncertain call for service situation, police should not allow a person to pick up boiling water or anything else that could potentially be used as a weapon. And if they believed Massey represented some kind of threat, allowing her to rummage around a kitchen full of knives is the wrong strategy.
When Massey suddenly says, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” the deputies are clearly threatened, tilting the entire encounter toward the tragedy that ultimately played out. More experienced veterans might have identified it as a common phrase used by people experiencing religious delusions. Indeed, Massey is reported to have had a history of psychological problems that her daughter characterized as “paranoid schizophrenic.”
Instead of drawing a weapon, the deputies could have employed a basic de-escalation tactic known as “verbal judo” to deflect the hostile comment and redirect the conversation in a more constructive direction. Both sheriff’s deputies had theoretically received some form of de-escalation training, because Illinois began mandating it for all officers on July 1, 2022. According to the statute, every three years, officers are required to complete 30 hours of instruction covering “the use of de-escalation techniques to prevent or reduce the need for force whenever safe and feasible.”
Here is why that training is so critical: a key component of an officer’s interaction with the public is making quick assessments of mental health on the fly. De-escalation training is intended to provide law enforcement with tools to determine if a person is truly a threat, or simply suffering from mental health problems. Programs such as Integrating Communications Assessment and Tactics (ICAT) encourage officers to move cautiously upon arrival, keep their distance, and verbally communicate with the subject as much as possible. That did not happen here.
Now the hard truth. This shooting reveals a more fundamental reality about policing that many do not want to admit: some people are just not meant to be cops. A career in law enforcement requires courage, physical fitness, and knowledge, combined with the appropriate temperament to wield authority in a responsible manner. These qualities are rare enough, but finding individuals that embody them all is an enormous challenge, particularly in the midst of an acute recruitment and retention crisis.
Police use of force is also relatively rare. Out of more than 50 million contacts with civilians every year, only about 1.8 percent involve a threat of or actual use of force, with an even smaller percentage of excessive force.
Sonya Massey’s death and the video of the killing illustrate the devastating consequences when officers do not understand or simply ignore their training. It is crucial to provide law enforcement officers with more tools and training and to resolve dangerous situations as peacefully as possible. Recent legislation like the Law Enforcement De-escalation Training Act (LEDTA) has the potential to not only save lives—of citizens and officers alike—but to restore public confidence in law enforcement, which is at all-time lows.