Officers are trained to handle volatile situations, says police expert

A Canadian expert in police training says recent shifts in education putnew emphasis on handling volatile situations without the use of force.

Terry Coleman has worked with the Atlantic Police Academy inSummerside, P.E.I.,on education and training in de-escalation and talking to people with mental health issues and helping with crisis intervention.

He acknowledges some fatalitiesare unavoidable but thatpolice often have options to reacha peaceful resolution.

"Trying to use the minimum amount of force, if any use of force, to try and resolve the situation peacefully, so everyone goes home at night," said Coleman.

Colemanhas no information about the fatal police shooting of32-year-old Jeremy Stephens in Summerside on Sunday and he is not part of the independent review by the Serious Incident Response Team to determine what happened.

But he isan expert in communicationtraining and non-physical intervention in policing.

Different approach to policing

Colemanworked as a police officer in Calgary for 25 years, then chief of police in Moose Jaw, Sask., and he'sbeen an expert at police inquiries and inquests involving civilians who have died as a result of police shootings.

• Police Academy aims to reduce use of 'excessive force'

Training for officers in recent years now includes lower levels of force, such astaking someone's armor talking to them in a non-threatening way, he said.

"Once the handgun has been pulled, things often don't go well," he said.

Family questions use of force

Stephens' sister JannettJones saiddoctors told her family Stephens was shot six times.

Jones saidher family isquestioning whether police had other options to restrain him that didn't involve guns.

She said Stephens had struggled with addiction issues but she did not consider him a violent person.

• 'We don't understand why this happened' says family of man who died in police shooting

Summersidepolice said officers were attempting to arrest Stephens when he resisted with violence.

Investigators have not made public whether Stephens had a weapon or what efforts were made to subdue him before he was shot.

The importance of role playing

Coleman said live role playing situations is essential to training,which happens at the Atlantic Police Academy.

"You can learn, re-do it and be critiqued by experts," he said.

"That's the only way you can practise and learn in a situation where the consequences aren't bad," he said.

Coleman said other parts of the country use combined teams of police officer and mental-health workers.He said P.E.I. is small enough to try a model like that.

The P.E.I. government announced a suicide prevention strategy last week that includes plans to establishmobile crisis response units.

'Patience and time'

Coleman teaches police about the importance ofpreparation, patience and time.He says there needs to be anemphasis on a calmnon-threatening approach to policing and for police agencies to recruit people who can take that approach.

Hebelieves many fatal shootings in Canadaby police could have ended differently.

• Most Canadians killed in police encounters since 2000 had mental health or substance abuse issues

"Quite frankly many of them could have been avoided," Coleman said.

"We stress that it requires patience and time.

"Some of these situations, the successful ones, have taken, many, many hours."

More P.E.I. News

• Land owned by premier's brother excluded from amalgamation proposal

• Local fisherman rescues 2 people off St. Peters Island, P.E.I.