Norwich — In what police Chief Patrick Daley said he believes is a first for New London County, city officers on Thursday underwent a de-escalation training session compiled by their colleagues and signed off on the department’s new use-of-force policy, which encourages the use of de-escalation techniques “whenever possible and appropriate.”

Daley’s initiative, one of the first he put forward when he became chief in September, isn’t in direct response to something Norwich officers did, he said. Rather, it’s an attempt to put Norwich police at the front of the pack.

“Over the last couple years, we’ve seen some high-profile — negative and positive — actions by law enforcement across the country that made us take a look at how we do things and see if there’s a better way,” Daley said. “De-escalation is a way to keep you safe and to keep the public safe, as well.”

The instructors — Officers Nick Rankin, Steve Schmidt and Rich Cannata — spent the past few months being trained “by the best in the world,” he noted. Some attended the Police Executive Training Forum on de-escalation in New Orleans. Some went to critical incident training hosted by the New York Police Department in Queens. Others went through Connecticut Police Academy training or the Verbal Defense and Influence Instructor Certification in Rockville Centre, N.Y.

In a first-floor training room Thursday, about 20 dayside officers listened and weighed in as Rankin, Schmidt and Cannata laid out what they learned and why it matters, sometimes using comics to illustrate points and other times showing videos.

The discussion was starkly honest. When Rankin asked officers to share what they thought their job would be like before they got it, one said he envisioned more action. Another said he didn’t realize he’d feel he was under a microscope from all directions — by department management, the community, the media.

“It gets difficult to turn the mirror around on ourselves and see if we’re doing something wrong,” Rankin acknowledged at one point.

Later, the officers' presentation moved into specific tactics for de-escalation.

Using videos of other departments' interactions, the instructors walked Norwich trainees through strategies including listening 80 percent of the time and talking 20 percent; employing empathy in conversations; using a universal greeting when approaching someone, and avoiding certain phrases. For example, instead of saying "calm down," officers could say, "It's going to be all right — what's the trouble?"

The training also took a look at the changes to the department's use-of-force policy. In addition to encouraging de-escalation, it adds a "sanctity of life" clause to the "purpose" section, which reads, "The lives of police officers and the lives of the people we serve are fundamentally important in the Norwich Police Department's mission to serve the public and our community."

Policing is evolving

Groups including the state Police Officer Standards and Training Council and the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association weren't able to verify whether Norwich is the first in the region to launch a de-escalation initiative and include de-escalation in its use-of-force policy.

But a group of 11 national police organizations just added de-escalation to its model policy a couple of months ago. The group's change came on the heels of the summer 2015 release of the U.S. Department of Justice 21st Century Policing Initiative report — a report whose recommendations Daley said Norwich police are trying to follow.

Rankin, expressing his disdain for the word “reform” — one used widely in discussions about the 21st century report and one he said inherently suggests officers are doing something wrong — asked his colleagues to consider Daley’s initiative a chance to evolve.

The Norwich Police Department is no stranger to shootings. In the yearlong span from February 2012 to February 2013, officers were involved in four shootings. In two of them, officers shot men who didn't end up dying. In one, a man shot an officer and then killed himself. In the other, several officers shot and killed a man who pointed a gun at them; they all were cleared of wrongdoing in that incident.

Statistics show Norwich police responded to 741 “de-escalation-type calls” in 2016, or about two per day. Of the almost 700 calls that ended up being as reported — those included attempted suicides, intoxicated people and people struggling with homelessness — 68.5 percent of people were sent to the hospital while only 4.5 percent were arrested.

“Most of the community likes us and likes what we do,” Rankin pointed out. “In public confidence polls, Gallup polls, we’re still the No. 3 public institution."

“People trust us and we’re doing a good job,” he continued. “But maybe today we’ll move that to a more consistent level and put some names to what you’re doing so it’s more defensible and more explainable.”

After Thursday’s session, only the midnight shift was awaiting training. Later this year, instructors said, all the officers’ training will be reinforced with scenario-based training.

l.boyle@theday.com