Met Police’s use of force drops by 11% thanks to fantastic new trauma approach training for officers.

The Met Police have worked tirelessly to reduce their use of force right across the capital. Due to their hard work and determination, the use of force has now dropped by 11%, a reduction of 20,000 incidents. These figures have quietly gone unnoticed, yet if they had increased by 11%, they would have made the front page of many a newspaper.

The figures reflect ongoing work by the Met on making sure force is only used as and when it should be. The reduction is the culmination of many factors such as reviews, training and a lot of hard work by their officers.

The Met’s lead for Use of Force is Inspector Natalie Wyatt whose hard work and in depth mental health knowledge has made played a big impact on the Force’s new training and outlook on this much spoken about topic.

Inspector Wyatt told the Havering Daily:”We have been training officers to justify their use of force. Everything from baton using to handcuffs and tasers. Over the past few years we have undergone a whole sale review into our use of force and have completely changed our training.

“We have a new learning method that works much better.It is more flexible and focuses on being mindful of the impact use of force is having on our communities.

“We undertake in a lot of roll play scenarios where officers have the ability to see the impact their possible use of force is having on the community, not just physically but the impact it will have on their mental health as well.”
Inspector Wyatt has very much focused the new learning method of a trauma informed approach on looking at the possible implications use of force could have on a person’s mental health and how to be mindful of this.

“We really wanted to focus on de-escalating a situation. Asking the officer, where applicable to take that extra time and ask themselves, could this situation be resolved in a different way? Is physical activity required to end the threat or not? Really asking the officer to take a step back and have a conversation with the person and assess the situation differently.”

Obviously there are times and events that sadly this is not going to be possible and use of force is going to be required to put an end to a particular event, but as Inspector Wyatt acknowledges, there are times when officers can actually reflect on what is the best way forward to diffuse a potentially difficult situation.

“The new training has been very much scenario based with officers looking at different methods to deal with difficult situations.”

Inspector Wyatt has based the new training on trauma informed learning which has proven to be very successful right across the capital. Shortages in mental health staff and facilities across London have seen Met officers deal with more and more mental health sufferers on a daily basis putting them as first responders to any incidents. With Inspector Wyatt’s positive impact training, the use of force has already declined.

“One of the key points we have asked our officers to look at is, not what is wrong with the situation but what has happened and can they engage with the person before any use of force is used,” continued the Inspector.

Another key point has also been to get officers to support each other during very challenging times. The increase in officers suffering PTSD has been on a sharp rise and Inspector Wyatt has been keen to help address this.

The never ending daily challenges that face the Met Police are indeed a huge mountain to climb. However, behind the scenes there are many officers who spend hours working hard to make sure the Met deals with its communities the best way it can. The 11% reduction in use of force is another huge step forward for them.

Officers right across the capital work tirelessly to make the Met the best police force it can be and undertake in long hours of work that never goes noticed. The Met is working positively with its communities and results such as these, show their commitment and dedication to the public.

New figures comparing the calendar years of 2021 to 2020, show that during that period, the use of force dropped by 11 per cent or nearly 20,000 incidents.

Use of handcuffs reduced by 14 per cent during compliant incidents and 7 per cent during non-compliant incidents, amounting to a 12 per cent reduction in their use overall.

The statistics also revealed a raft of other reductions, including:

– 21 per cent reduction in batons being drawn

– 31 per cent drop in tasers being fired

– 14 per cent in ground restraint

– 26 per cent drop in spit guard use

The report also details the work of a dedicated team set up around April 2021 to review randomly selected body worn video in order to further improve dealings with the public.

The Post Incident Officer and Staff Support (PIOSS) team reviewed around 6,000 clips of everyday street encounters over an eleven month period – an average of 150 -200 incidents each week.

The Met also reviews every single time pava spray and batons are used. This is the first time the organisation has had these levels of scrutiny in place centrally on use of force.

For more information, the full report is available here:

Click to access item_2_child_q_and_use_of_force.pdf