Fort Myers, Florida Police Department (PD) requested a “T3: Tact, Tactics, and Trust Train the Trainer” course. The request was referred to Polis Solutions and not fulfilled by BJA NTTAC.
The patrol officers of the Fort Myers Police Department and the citizens they serve, would greatly benefit from specialized training in the area of police/citizen de-escalation tactics. The need for de-escalation training is related to a culmination of factors facing both the police organization and the community. These factors include: (1) High percentage of relatively inexperienced officers, (2) High levels of violent crime, (3) Increased gang activity, and (4) Significant population of citizens living with mental illnesses. Additionally, the community members face challenges with regard to high levels of poverty, lower levels of educational achievement, and language barriers among a very diverse population.
Most law enforcement professionals agree that officers benefit tremendously from on the job experience when it comes to their ability to safely and successfully employ de-escalation tactics when engaged in citizen encounters during the course of their duties. Officers learn, often through trial and error, what works well and what does not. Additionally, more seasoned patrol officers mentor and guide less experienced officers regarding safer methods of interacting with citizens and de-escalating dangerous encounters. However, this learning method is unstructured, inconsistent, time consuming, and requires a larger percentage of highly experience officers to influence and guide the less experienced group. Currently, the Fort Myers Police Department is staffed by 181 sworn officers, with 77 assigned to the Patrol Division. Fort Myers patrol officers have, on average, only 4.53 years of experience. However, 52% of these officers have less than two (2) years of experience. In 2016 the agency hired 31 new police officers. The agency lacks a ready supply of experienced Field Training Officers (F.T.O.’s) to properly train newly hired police officers.
The Fort Myers Police Department, like many smaller urban centers serving populations with higher poverty levels, has seen a spike in violent crime. Although the agency has made tremendous strides over the years in reducing overall crime, violent crime continues to remain a top concern. The number of murders and incidents of gun violence are extremely high, given the population levels. For example, in 2015 the population of the City of Fort Myers was 72,395 and there were 14 murders. In 2016 the population was 76,108 and there were 15 murders. From 2013 to 2016 shooting incidents increased by 87.5%. These statistics reveal that our officers have a higher potential of encountering armed individuals and would benefit greatly from targeted training in the area of de-escalation tactics.
From 2010 to 2015 the City of Fort Myers experienced an increase in localized gang formation and gang activity. These gangs are most often made up of loosely affiliated neighborhood or territorial groups without traditional hierarchical structures. Disputes arise between the various neighborhood groups, regarding perceived disrespect, and these disputes often result in shootings in neighborhoods with collateral damage to uninvolved citizenry. Patrol officers are periodically exposed to encounters with gang members, their family members, and neighbors. De-escalation tactics and training in their use would prove invaluable when resolving street level encounters with these gang members.
The City of Fort Myers is the county seat for Lee County, Florida and thereby serves as the central hub for providing mental health services to the community. The city has a number of professional mental health providers who are tasked with caring for a large population of individuals with mental health illnesses. Fort Myers Police Officers regularly encounter persons with mental illnesses who are in crisis and these encounters can result in injuries to both the officers and the individual. De-escalation tactics, specifically geared towards encounters with persons having mental illnesses, can result in less danger of injury/death to both the citizens and the officers involved.
Please check the box next to the following questions if the answer is 'yes'.
Please enter the applicable Event Date if there is an Event associated with this TTA.
When entering an Event Date, the Time is also required.
If the TTA is targeted to a particular audience or location, please complete the questions below.
Milestones are an element, activity, work product, or key task associated with completing the TTA (e.g. kick-off meeting, collect data from stake holders, deliver initial data analysis).
Please complete the fields below, if applicable, to create a milestone for this TTA.
Please respond to the Performance Metrics below. The Performance Metrics questions are based on the TTA Type indicated in the General Information section of the TTA.
Please submit a signed letter of support from your agency’s executive or other senior staff member. The letter can be emailed to or uploaded with this request. The letter should be submitted on official letterhead and include the following information:
- General information regarding the request for TTA services, i.e., the who, what, where, when, and why.
- The organizational and/or community needs specific to the request for TTA services.
- The benefits or anticipated outcomes from the receipt of TTA services.
By submitting this application to BJA NTTAC, I understand that upon approval of this application for TTA, the requestor agrees to keep BJA NTTAC informed of any circumstances that may impact the delivery of the TTA, including changes in the date of the event, event cancellation, or difficulties communicating with the assigned TTA provider.
Please call [site:phone] if you need further assistance completing this application.