Why can a lack of experience with violence make young police officers act wrongly, and what does that mean for police training and leadership?

Recruits who grew up sheltered and have internalised non-violence may either fail to intervene firmly or, under sudden extreme stress, overreact. They need reflection on their professional role, new leadership styles and an error culture, which is hard in an institution that is expected never to make mistakes.

Werth's observations:

• Many recruits grew up sheltered, with no experience of violence, no martial art and no feel for their own physical strength. A generational change has made non-violence a highly internalised value.
• On duty they meet a practice shock: real violence and increasing hostility, verbal and physical.
• Two failure modes:
  • they do not intervene firmly where experienced officers would have carried a measure through,
  • or, under a sudden extreme stress level, they overreact where experienced officers would have kept proportionality in view.
• Responses: reflection on the professional role (Berufsrollenreflexion: what kind of officer do I want to become, and how do I deal with stress?), new leadership styles, and ethics discussions such as "how far may my use of force go, and how do I stop myself?"
• The error-culture dilemma: the police as a central security institution are expected, by definition, to make no mistakes. But people do make mistakes, and an institution that cannot admit them cannot learn from them.

Go deeper:

• Werth: Gewalt, ein ethisches Dilemma — on young officers, reflection on the professional role and error culture (German).