Police captains train with improv techniques to reduce violent crime

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Police captains train with improv techniques to reduce violent crime

Three dozens of captain connect to Chicago Conference Hall to play a game: a sentence must start with the last word that their partner used.

Many of the meaningful exchanges, full of difficult and laugh. But the improvisation game is logical in the end.

“What we are trying to do is, he made you listen to the end of the sentence.” “If my arms are a sentence, when most people stop listening?

Police leaders who flew from departments throughout the country are a gesture. “I definitely do it,” some call.

Officials at the Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago Crime brought members of the second city, and the improvisation theater in Chicago, to teach police leaders the most diverse skills in improvisation exercises – such as thinking about your feet, preserving the ruling, and listening completely.

The Academy, a workshop that studies more than five months, deals with some dangerous topics such as how to make data -based decisions or how officers help to deal with shock while working.

Improving social skills

“We call it yoga for social skills,” said Leonard, deputy head of the creative strategy, innovation and business development in the second city.

Skills may not apply to all police cases in this field, but being a better listener or learning to breathe before response can make leaders better, according to Tree Branch, a strategic agent partner in the second city.

The establishment of improvisation and the second city is rooted in social work. Both follow their beginnings to Viola Spolin, who created some exercises that are still used in improvisation while she was a resettlement operator in the twenties of the last century helping migrant children and local Chicago children communicate. Mrs. Spulin was also a mother of the founder of the second city, Paul Sells.

Creators at the Police Command Academy believe that these skills can also help in achieving their goals to increase society’s participation, improve the morale of officers, and reduce violent crime in the end.

“We are trying to put an issue that you can do the three things,” said Kim Smith, director of the programs at the crime laboratory.

The Academy focuses on working with leaders from departments that deal with high levels of armed violence for society and pay them to travel to Chicago one week per month to attend training for five months.

The researchers in the crime laboratory found that the tribes in the provinces and the region have the largest possible impact on their colleagues, although they often obtained a few leadership training on the job. The marshal can have high signs of morale or societal relationships, or the crime numbers are made, but if the captain changes, these gains may collapse, and the researchers found, even if society, officers, and everything else is the same.

Professors, researchers and police leaders teach courses on topics such as developing transparent police cultures, using data collection, stress management, and building community partnerships. So far, about 130 police officers have participated in about 70 departments, including tribal police stations and even Toronto police inspector.

Communication is the key

Captain Luis Hignesson of the Philadelphia Police Department said that the academy has provided much wider training than the training of the police job before he was promoted to the team leader more than a year ago.

“The big thing for me was to think about the things that we allow to happen because they were in this way before us,” he said. “The ways through which we can change the culture of our region by changing thinking about the reason we do things.”

He said that he did some improvisation exercises with his wife and daughters when he returned home and opened communication in a way that he did not expect.

“I think he opened their eyes, as I did for me,” said Mr. Higson.

The commander of the Albukirk Ray del Greco said he was still thinking more about how he continued after weeks of improvisation.

“When people talk to you and come to help you solve their problems, to be able to get the ego and anxiety less about your agenda and listen, this is an understanding of the leadership.” “For me this was the most valuable category that we have.”

The student becomes a teacher

Oscar leaders emphasized that learning does not stop at graduation. They create communication channels so that the study’s colleagues can continue to support each other, encourage the captains to set exercises with their departments, and the participants are required to implement the Cabstone project that lasts after the last day of the class and addresses a real problem in their area or section.

Several projects implement programs to address specific crimes, such as the involvement of society in programs to prevent car theft or drone experience as the first respondents. One of the former graduates has invented a partnership with community groups to increase the pride of society and reduce armed violence by reducing the quality of life issues such as garbage, many enlarged and writings on the walls.

Stephen Donuhou, the commander of the San Jose Police Department and the last Oscar graduate, creates an early intervention system that focuses on the health of the officer. The typical system may clarify citizen complaints or driving accidents, but the program of Mr. Donohoo collects inputs from the supervisors and peers of the mark when an officer deals with a great shock in service, such as multiple murders or the launch of investigations within a short time.

“It is a plan between training, wellness and internal affairs,” he said. “We can help them, we can reduce the use of complaints and allegations, provide better training and improve the services provided by the department.”