Emotional Intelligence Training is No Longer Optional

Emotional Intelligence Training is No Longer Optional 

Roger Buhlis for PSPBL 

 

An academy student feels the thrill of knowing that he will graduate in a few weeks and begin field training at the agency that recently agreed to hire him. He has worked very hard on his physical training, marksmanship, and defensive tactics skill. He knows he is near the top of his class in academics. On a rare day off from class time and studies, the student enjoys time with some non-law enforcement friends at a county fair. He watches with disgust from a short distance as an obviously intoxicated man aggressively argues with a carnival booth operator over whether or not the man earned the grand prize, an oversize stuffed bear. The student considers whether he should intervene as his friends encourage him to do so.   

 

An academy instructor is new to teaching students in his traffic enforcement class. Since retiring, teaching gives him a sense of belonging and connection to his former profession. Running through his PowerPoint deck, he believes he is providing valuable information to the students. When he sees that several students appear distracted or uninterested, he feels insecure and offers a joke to lift the classroom energy. This works and he gets several laughs. A few moments later, he decides to interject an impromptu war story to keep the student’s interest. This also works and he feels the students warming to him. He considers telling an off-color joke because, after all, police officers and deputies must have a dark sense of humor to survive a long career anyway, right? 

 

A deputy in patrol training hears her call sign broadcast over the radio and acknowledges the call, a potential stabbing in progress at a bar fight. Her training officer has been working with her on geography for weeks and is confident his trainee should be able to drive to the bar quickly and efficiently in an emergency response. He will not offer her directions to see if she will take the most efficient route. The trainee switches the emergency equipment on and starts toward the call. She drives at a safe enough speed for the conditions, but makes several wrong turns, delaying her response as deputies assigned to assist arrive to the bar before her. The trainee and her trainer are the last of the dispatched deputies to arrive. Later, as they debriefed the incident, the trainee offers no justification for making wrong turns en route to the call, but acknowledges that the lights and siren are “distracting” to her, and the bar fight call was “intimidating.” 

 

A police commander examines himself in a mirror to make sure his uniform looks just right. He knows the community meeting he will attend within the next hour will be contentious. Residents are infuriated about an officer’s use of force, broadcast widely in a viral video. The commander is also frustrated by the apparent violation of department policy. His rank allowed him access to the contents of the incident report and his insight is troubling for him. As he looks into the mirror, he recognizes that he simply does not want to face the hostile crowd. He knows he will struggle to balance his responses between delicate diplomacy and appropriate transparency, and he wonders if he can hold back what he would really like to say to the community members. 

 

Disgust, insecurity, apprehension, and anger are examples of emotions that each of us manage day-to-day, sometimes moment-by-moment. Our ability to recognize and manage our emotions, and recognize emotions of those around us, is called emotional intelligence (EI). EI skill is useful for successful human interaction, but, as the examples above demonstrate, EI is a critical competence for policing professionals. This article describes EI in policing and answers some frequently-asked questions about EI training for policing professionals. 

 

What is EI? 

 

The concept of EI was first proposed by Professors Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer. Salovey and Mayer define EI as follows:  

 

“Emotional intelligence isthe ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.” 

 

Their model involves four abilities, or competencies, that promote emotional intelligence: 

  1. The ability to perceive emotions in oneself and others accurately. 

  1. The ability to use emotions to facilitate thinking. 

  1. The ability to understand emotions, emotional language, and the signals conveyed by emotions. 

  1. The ability to manage emotions so as to attain specific goals.  

 

In 1995, Daniel Goleman, a psychologist and journalist for the New York Times, popularized EI in a book of the same title. Some readers found Goleman’s model of EI more accessible than the Salovey & Mayer model. Goleman’s model reframed emotional intelligence into five key skills: 

 

  • Emotional self-awareness — knowing what one is feeling at any given time and understanding the impact those moods have on others 

  • Self-regulation — controlling or redirecting one’s emotions; anticipating consequences before acting on impulse 

  • Motivation — utilizing emotional factors to achieve goals, enjoy the learning process and persevere in the face of obstacles 

  • Empathy — sensing the emotions of others 

  • Social skills — managing relationships, inspiring others and inducing desired responses from them 

 

As with other types of intelligences such as musical, mathematical, and bodily-kinesthetic, we may each have varying degrees of EI aptitude. As well, we all have the capacity to learn and improve upon our emotional intelligence ability. The benefits of effective EI competence should be obvious – self-regulation, empathy, and communication can all be enriched, but only in the practice of them, comprehension alone is insufficient. As critique of the policing profession grows, it is EI in practice that we need. 

 

EI for Policing Professionals 

 

While Western private industry worked quickly to introduce EI concepts into their cultures, the policing profession ignored EI for almost 10 years. The advent of the Police Training Officer (PTO) model in 1999 rectified this. As with problem-solving and community policing, the PTO model infused EI into post-academy police training. Through introductory EI training, mindfulness, and journaling, police trainers and trainees develop EI awareness and practices that carry them through their careers 

 

The benefits in policing should be apparent. The television news and internet are filled with videos showing police interactions spiraling out of control. Many confrontations are rapidly evolving, emotionally charged events. We see fear, frustration, anger, and insecurity play out on our screens, manifested on both sides of the event. EI causes us to be mindful of our emotions, to recognize where others might be, and encourages effective self-regulation habits. Conflict resolution, negotiation, victim support, emergency response, and problem-solving can all benefit from emotionally intelligent policing professionals on the scene. 

 

As an organization, PSPBL has supported effective, holistic police training that emphasizes EI practices and problem-solving strategies with a community policing focus. Our primary methodology is Problem Based Learning (PBL) and advanced adult learning techniques intended to engage the learner and encourage practice, rather than simple comprehension. 

 

We are occasionally asked questions about EI instruction, such as the following:  

 

  1. How have you seen the emotional intelligence component incorporated into training? 

  • Division of hours/days 

  • Follow-up classes 

 

Response:  

For EI training to be effective, generally two things should occur. First, whenever EI will be a significant learning outcome in a course, the student(s) should be introduced early to EI concepts and benefits. Depending on the nature of the training (whether in a classroom or in field training), instructors may choose to present, assign reading, and/or use cooperative learning exercises to develop basic comprehension. Regardless of the type of introduction, EI should be prioritized early in the lesson plan so those lessons can be practiced during subsequent class days.  

 

Second, in accordance with PBL and adult learning practices, student(s) should be afforded opportunities for self-discovery and experiential learning. As with swimming, EI cannot be learned through lectures or readings; the student(s) must practice. Practice is critical to move students from comprehension to application and beyond 

 

Instructors can facilitate EI practice by (in addition to other strategies): 

  • Prompting short bits of time for journaling (self-awareness)   

  • Responding to student journal entries with observations and questions (social awareness & empathy) 

  • Introducing meditation practices (self-awareness & self-regulation) 

  • Observing and calling out (with compassion) individual, small, and large group behaviors demonstrating EI tenets (self-awareness & relationship management) 

  • Checking in and out at the start and end of each training day (self-awareness)  

 

The information above addresses the “how” of EI training. As to the question of “how much,” this is less well-defined and relies on competent facilitators to make appropriate judgements. Introducing the benefits and concepts should generally take about an hour or two of class time. This has been true for the 40-hour PTO course, as well as the 80-hour PBL Instructor Development course. Once the introduction is complete, instructors should spend the amount of time that they think necessary, offering sufficient experiential opportunities to anchor the learning. We suggest one thing is clear – following the introduction, EI should be practiced intermittently during each subsequent day of training. 

 

For example, sometime after the EI introduction, 15-20 minutes might be spent introducing and practicing a meditation to build self-awareness and self-regulation practice. Following any other classroom activity where EI concepts become apparent (e.g., social interactions demonstrating poor – or positive! – conflict resolution strategies), the students should be prompted to make journal entries regarding those teachable moments. In their journal entries, students should be asked to describe what happened, how they felt, what they learned about their own EI, and what they might do in the future to be more effective. As students work through small group projects, facilitators should check in and ask about their process, focusing on EI, in addition to asking about their product (where they are in the project). 

 

The point is that EI training should be woven into the content of the course and must be experienced in the context of daily life. One group of students may only need about 30 minutes each day, spread out through various times of the day. Another group may benefit from that plus a plenary dialogue exploring the communication breakdown of one of its small groups, or some other EI-related issue that the entire class observed. Some groups may need more time each day. This topic is so critical to policing, teaching, and learning that we feel adequate time should be devoted to it throughout a course. In learning to be consistently mindful of their own EI, students will transfer the learning into their lives and their workplaces. 

 

  1. Where is the best placement for emotional intelligence training? (e.g., Academy/Continuing Education/Specialty Assignments, etc.) 

  • New officer considerations: pre-academy, during the academy, after the academy but before field training, or after field training 

  • What are the roll-out considerations for the rest of the department? 

 

Response: 

From our perspective, the answer is simple – EI training should occur at all of the levels mentioned in the question. As the vignettes at the start of this article demonstrated, everyone at every rank and in every assignment is subject to emotions and emotional behavior. Emotions can no longer be considered the sole concern of hormonal adolescents. The science of emotions and their impact on our brains are now well-documented. No one can escape emotions or their influence. Self-awareness and self-regulation are life skills for everyone. 

 

On a related topic, we suggest that EI skill does not automatically grow as a person rises through the ranks. You may be able to think of a supervisor, manager, or senior command staff member who fails to demonstrate self-awareness, empathy, or relationship management skill. For this reason, we advocate incorporating EI into the policing profession as an organizational culture shift, rather than a simple one-off course presented to one group or another. 

 

In an ideal world, we see a consistent flow of EI training introduced to academy students and then expected in the post-academy field training program. EI should be considered in the hiring process, in the promotion process, and during the selection process for any specialty assignments. As you consider the importance of EI, you can imagine how these skills would be useful in specialty assignments such as training officers, child abuse and domestic violence investigators, special response teams, and so many others. Even dispatchers, given the high-pressure environment of the communications center, can benefit from EI training. 

 

As for the roll-out, the response to the first question (above) applies: we recommend introducing the concept and its benefits, facilitating practice in real-world settings, and then integrating the practices by making them part of the organizational culture and expectations. 

 

  1. Based on your experience and knowledge of emotional intelligence, what are some things that we need to make sure are done, are avoided, or are otherwise improved? 

 

Response 

We have learned a lot about EI and teaching EI to police professionals in two decades, so thank you for asking this open-ended question.  

 

The first point we would make relates to the power of teaching EI. As you learn about EI (so that you can teach and practice it yourself), the immediate temptation is to start “diagnosing” the EI issues of others. We strongly encourage you to avoid this temptation. When considering EI, it’s best to work on yourself first – we’ve all found plenty of work to do there. You might also. 

 

But teaching EI requires that you engage with others as they explore EI and its practices. One of the most important things weve learned is that teaching EI is not intended as therapy or to “fix” people. As your students learn about EI, their triggers, past influences, and underlying scars may surface. Unless you are a licensed counselor or psychotherapist, please avoid feeling compelled to address their issues. Surfacing these issues is a positive – for your students to learn what they should work onhowever, it can be an uncomfortable development for you and your student(s). You must learn to be comfortable in your discomfort as you sometimes watch students struggle with EI as a concept, as well as their own EI issues. 

 

In fact, you may even see students attempt to reject or block EI instruction because they find it too painful. In other words, students may literally go into “fight or flight” mode, the most primitive of emotional responses, when they begin to explore their own EI. This is another area where experienced facilitators must hold true to the goal – introducing the concepts and benefits of EI, and creating opportunities for practice. 

 

The second area for discussion here involves journals and journaling. If you have some experience with journaling, or are familiar with journaling in the PTO program, the following discussion may be an update for you. If you are unfamiliar, this discussion is intended to set you on the right course. 

 

First, we have to acknowledge that policing professionals often try to dismiss the concept of journaling out of hand. There are a number of reasons offered for this resistance including, “It’s a diary – unicorns and rainbows aren’t what we do,” and unsupported fears about courtroom discovery. As a result, one of the single, most effective tools for teaching and learning about EI is rationalized away and set aside, usually very quickly. We have tried a number of strategies to make journaling palatable to policing professionals including renaming the process to “Learning Journal,” or a “Core Competency Logbook.” We have tried “playing the game” to enhance the appeal and ease the unwarranted fears of journaling in effort to coerce learner participation. 

 

After 20 years of trying, we are done cajoling, catering, and compromising the concept of journaling. The simple fact is that the purpose of journaling is self-discovery, learning, and developing self-awareness. Students who want to succeed must be motivated to learn. For academy students and post-academy trainees, learning journals should be made a compulsory component of the curriculum. Learning journals are a tool to document learning, and an excellent strategy to facilitate learning about EI. We strongly encourage policing professionals to journal, but recognize we do not have the influence that academy programs, training programs, program supervisors, and instructors have. Regardless of what journaling is called, we refer to the Nike motto, “Just do it.” 

 

And finally, when the PTO program was first published there was some confusion as to whether journals should be reviewed by instructors or trainees. To be clear, we believe journal entries should be considered conversations. Instructors or PTOs should intermittently review their student/trainee journal entries, respond in writing and consider initiating in-person conversation later as well.  

 

Responses can come in many forms and practice helps when reviewing and responding to journal entries. Responses should not be judgmental or condescending, and often, the best responses are phrased in the form of further questions such as, “How did you feel when this occurred?” “What was your most significant takeaway from this?” “What will you do differently in the future as a result of this?” Remembering that the point of the journal is learning, responses should be geared toward extending the student’s learning. 

 

Conclusion 

 

I have been writing this article in April 2021. Just as I finish up, a former Minnesota police officer has been found guilty of the murder of his arrestee. Setting aside comments regarding tactics and the justice system, for us, this incident is a matter of EI. If we could ask the officer one question, it would not be, “What were you thinking?” but instead, “What were you feeling?” This question cuts to the heart of what likely happened at the scene a year before.  

 

Disgust, insecurity, apprehension, and anger are examples of emotions that we ourselves experience, and see in others every day. These emotions are not limited to the examples of overzealous academy students, diffident instructors, apprehensive trainees, and incensed commanders we used early in the article. We now know that self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skill is critical for all policing professionals. Without these competencies, we can become what Goleman labels “Passions Slaves.” It is well past time to stop ignoring EI in policing and we no longer have the luxury of considering EI training optional. 

 

 

The Police Society for Problem Based Learning 

Roger Buhlis 

April 20, 2021 

 

 

Resources 

 

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam Dell. 

 

Salovey, P. & Mayer, J. (1990). Emotional intelligence: Imagination, cognition, and personality. 9 (3), 185-211. Baywood Publishing Company, Inc. 

 

Salovey, P. (1997). Emotional development and emotional intelligence: Educational Implications. Perseus Books. 

 

Saville, G. (undated). Conquering the hidden dragon: Emotional intelligence in 21st century policing. PSPBL online publication. 

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What Must Happen Before Cops Stop Shooting Black People? 3 Strategies For Change

Gregory Saville and Gerard Cleveland 

The resolution of the George Floyd trial with the conviction of Derek Chauvin signifies little to those 

of us familiar with the world of police reform. For over thirty years we have attempted to change  

from within the culture of the blue tribe. We are failing, but our hope for better policing in the  

future remains strong.  In our January 25 Denver Post Op Ed Key to better policing lies in trained  

community oversight, we outlined the need for certified Local Police Management Boards to  

oversee policing programs.  

 

In this article we focus on the cultural issues that are internal to police organizations that require our  

immediate attention – the so-called Blue Wall.  After decades of training police and watching the  

good, the bad and the ugly of academy training, police leadership and political pronouncements, we  

offer the following recommendations to bring about the systemic change that we so desperately  

need. 

 

  1. PRE – EMPLOYMENT PLANNING 

Public safety agencies should hire only candidates with previous career experiences who care deeply 

about preventing crime, minimizing victimization, and solving community problems rather than  

simply  enforcing laws. Despite some recent superficial improvements in hiring practices, we still  

cannot find, and retain, enough divergent thinkers with a community guardian mindset who seek to  

solve problems as a primary means of community safety Police agencies must actively recruit 

community members who have a history of providing service to their community. 

 

Professions such as EMTs, social workers, teachers, nurses, community development workers, 

business owners, child-care workers, and those with a track record of employment in community- 

support professions should top our lists. If we continue to hire warriors who believe they are fighting 

a war against an intractable enemy and who suppose the job mandates protecting citizens  

from each other, the killings of vulnerable and visibly identifiable individuals will go on unabated. 

 

 

 

  1. POLICE TRAINING REFORM 

We must radically transform our training methods in firearms and defensive tactics. We 

recommend the creation of a nationally-mandated (perhaps starting with Colorado State-mandated) 

cadre of non-agency aligned firearms and defensive tactics trainers – all with police crisis  

experience- to refashion training methods. New methods would focus on a combination of de- 

escalation techniques, mental health crisis intervention plans, preservation of human life ethics, and  

less-than lethal training options all incorporated into academy weapons and restraint training 

 

The current academy firearms training – often fostered by instructors with a singular  

focus on officer survival rather than a respect for all human life – must stop immediately. 

Police conflict training needs an immediate overhaul and, from what we have seen, it cannot happen 

soon enough. Some current trainers will claim, with righteous indignation, that what we advocate 

will lead to police deaths and a consequent loss of officer safety. Both those claims are nonsense.  

The evidence does not support them. Here we are, seven years after the Michael Brown shooting in  

Missouri, still pondering our options rather than taking positive steps to reduce the excessive use of  

lethal force in American policing.   

 

Teaching police that they are better “judged by twelve than carried by six” and fostering a fear- 

infused “us versus them” mentality has led to our current tragic and ever-repeating impasse  

between the police and significant portions of our communities.  

 

  1. PARTNERSHIP SERVICE DELIVERY 

 

The term police service delivery has a sad and nondescript history and law enforcement and  

political leaders must do a better job in describing and delivering exactly what their particular  

“service to the community” entails.  

 

City managers and police governance agencies have numerous options to put to potential leaders  

who seek to lead the public safety team in your community. If your chiefs and sheriffs tell you that  

they will include random vehicle patrol, saturation patrol on crime hotspots, predictive policing  

algorithms with directed police patrol you should save your tax dollars and tell them; 

“We don’t want more computers or targeted patrol without our input! We want a plan for  

community safety with us as equal partners!”  

 

Rather than the above standalone enforcement strategies, we encourage the only strategy that 

really workspartnership service delivery. We must insist that patrol officers get out of 

their vehicles and work directly with residents to solve the specific neighborhood crime problems 

that typically produce the calls they keep attending and leaving without solving. Agencies such as  

New Orleans district patrol officers and NYPD’s Neighborhood Coordination Officers in public  

housing have all taken this approach with considerable impact. Permanent adoption of this  

partnership service delivery model across the entire agency may be difficult, but it will work. The  

alternative involves maintaining a status quo that remains unacceptable – even unsafe –  to 

significant portion of our citizenry. We recommend that funding the partnership service delivery  

model makes much more sense than simply defunding police agencies with no clear path forward. 

 

Partnership service delivery goes a long way to breach the “blue wall” of cops speaking only to cops. 

We have the potential to receive significant safety impacts on our communities from local cops and  

residents working together while learning problem-solving methods to address shared problems.  

We saw successes each time we did this collaboration.  Residents and police enjoy working  

together to solve real life problems. 

 

If residents in the above areas saw or heard of excessive police force used on minorities in the  local  

media, they would criticize police headquarters and the institution of law enforcement, but not the  

cops sitting across from them at the table. Those were “their” cops, and they were protective of  

them. The officers in these collaborative situations experienced, often for the first time in their  

careers, the power of true community support. 

 

Partnership service delivery provides them a chance to build community understanding, engage  

resident support and escape from the constant resource drain of 9-1-1 dispatched calls for service. If  

we can incorporate the above three strategies into our policing agencies, along with Local Police  

Management Boards for more responsible governance, then the terrible shootings of recent history  

will have led us to a better approach to keeping our citizens safe and truly engaged in their own  

wellbeing.  

 

BIOS 

Gregory Saville is a criminologist and former police officer, who runs a consulting firm in Arvada. Gerard Cleveland is an attorney, university law lecturer and former police officer. Both have consulted with the U.S Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Colorado Department of Public Safety. 

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A Message from PSPBL Board President

THE 2020 PSPBL CONFERENCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED

It is with heavy hearts and much deliberation that the PSPBL Board has decided that we must cancel this year’s conference. With our 2020 “Avoiding Organizational Dysfunction through Problem Based Learning” Conference just two months away, the Board realizes that as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the rapidly evolving restrictions being imposed by different levels of government no one can firmly commit to their availability to attend this year’s conference. We really wanted the conference to happen but the present circumstances have made it impossible to put on the event, for the time being.


Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people who have been affected by this unprecedented pandemic and we appreciate all who are on the front lines working to contain the virus. Your safety and well-being are of the utmost importance to us.
If you were registered for our conference, you should have already received an email outlining the refunding of your registration fees. If you did not receive our email please contact us informing us of the same. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you but feel this is the appropriate action to take at this time.


On a positive note we are already planning the 2021 Conference to be held in Hampton, VA. and are in discussions regarding possible dates. We will keep everyone updated on the PSPBL.org website. In the meantime, please stay safe, practice social distancing and stay healthy.


Captain Paul R. Laferriere, Esq. President

Thank you all,

Paul R. Laferriere
President – PSPBL

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