Oklahoma City School Resource Officers Train On De-Escalation, Control, Defensive Techniques

With two weeks left before classes begin at Oklahoma City Public Schools, school resource officers are already preparing.

On Thursday, SROs practiced de-escalation, control, and defensive techniques at the Oklahoma City Police Department's training center.

"Punching, elbows, some basic kicks. And then once we got done with that, we worked on a simple takedown. And then from that takedown, we worked some ground-control techniques that could lead to putting a subject into handcuffs if they were actively resisting in a defensive manner," said Staff Sgt. Tom Maness, who was the instructor.

Maness also trained the SROs on how to fall down safely.

"We look to protect ourselves by tucking our chin and curving out back and looking to dissipate energy," said Maness.

Maness said now's the best time to prepare the SROs.

"Before the school starts, they try and get all the training that they would do throughout the year done and accomplished so they're not having to leave their schools to go do training," said Maness.

That way, they can be ready for any situation in a school setting.

 "We've done a lot of active-shooter training and response to that," said Maness. "But you also have to consider there could be other situations that happen, whether they're domestic or just at the end of a pursuit, someone's gotten off into a building. So you could have potentially very violent confrontations with people that aren't even involved with the school inside the school. So it is important for our school resource officers to be proficient at their defensive tactics skills."

Officers also undergo reality-based training involving scenarios and verbal de-escalation training.