The Promise of VOICE Reactance-Mitigating Linguistic Training for Law Enforcement: Results from a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Police agencies are considering various de-escalation curricula and training to aid in safer outcomes for both officers and civilians. Psychological reactance, a defensive response triggered when individuals perceive that their freedom or autonomy is being threatened, has been extensively studied across various disciplines, including health communications, marketing, and education, since the 1960s. However, formal training programs focused on teaching these techniques remain limited, and to date, no such training has been empirically tested with law enforcement in a health care setting. As the first known study in a law enforcement context, this pilot study implemented a randomized controlled trial in a hospital setting, coupled with pre- and post-test surveys to evaluate the impact of reactance-mitigating linguistic de-escalation training on physical interventions and de-escalation. Two of the four patrol blocks were randomized to receive the training, in which pre-test and post-test surveys were administered to the treatment personnel. Findings revealed successful training effectiveness, improved knowledge of reactance-mitigating concepts, and overall high support of the training. Count regression models indicated that treatment security staff reported fewer de-escalations than control security staff; however, treatment police officers reported significantly higher de-escalations than control police officers. This pilot study provides great promise for law enforcement officers, particularly when de-escalating more common, low-level encounters with hostile civilians. Other implications and future directions are discussed.