Escondido police establish de-escalation policy

As the push for policing reform continues locally and nationally, Escondido police announced this week they’ve crafted a stand-alone policy geared toward de-escalating tense situations, in hopes of preventing violent encounters between the public and police.

The policy calls for officers, if possible, gather all the facts they can before entering a potentially fraught situation. It also says officers should use tactics to lower the intensity during such encounters, and says that “disengagement may be a viable option” in certain situations, such as when people are in crisis but pose no threat.

Escondido police chief Ed Varso said the newly crafted policy encourages officers to use strategies to end tense situations peacefully.

“The de-escalation policy recognizes our commitment to the reverence of human life,” Varso said.

De-escalation concepts appear throughout Escondido’s policies. The idea here was to focus on de-escalation approaches and craft them into a stand-alone policy.

The policy was shaped not solely by department brass, but also by leaders of the community groups pushing for change.

“This is really important, because as simple as it appears to be, it comes with a lot of meaning and a lot of trust,” said Max Disposti, the founder and executive director of the North County LGBTQ Resource Center, who helped work on the policy.

The stand-alone policy comes as protesters around the country have demanded policing reforms. The movement exploded after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Thousands of people demonstrated in Escondido and in other parts of San Diego County last summer.

Rob Jenkins, executive vice president of the North San Diego County NAACP, also helped shape Escondido’s new policy.

“Now is the time for sitting down at the table,” Jenkins said. “And I think Chief Varso and his department have given us the opportunity to sit down — not just for de-escalation, but for other issues that come up.”

As Varso announced the policy, he stood in front of a large photo of himself with protesters, their arms linked. The chief — who said the photo “means a lot to me personally” — said he went to the protests to join the crowd and take “the time to listen.”

“What became so clear to me was that the community wasn’t just coming out to voice their anger at what happened in Minneapolis, but also voicing expectations that law enforcement in Escondido be well-trained, respectful, and treat all members of our community fairly,” Varso said.

Varso said the encounters led him to direct his staff to seek out the newest and best ideas in de-escalation, to then set about crystallizing a policy, alongside community members.

Also at the table was Escondido resident Yusef Miller, co-founder of the North County Equity and Justice Coalition. On Monday, he spoke of the “wisdom of disengagement.”

As laid out in the policy, disengagement “is not a retreat or loss of control, but is an option to withdraw any further contact and/or speech in order to defuse or prevent unintended or unwanted events.”

“I can’t even put it into words how the community would react to an officer saying, ‘There is nothing going on here, no law being broken ... ‘ Miller said. “Not as a retreat, but as an Escondido policy.”

California legislators have focused on policing reforms in recent years, including a notable change in 2019 — authored by then-San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber — to raise the standard for when police can use deadly force. It had been permissible when “reasonable.” Now, police can only use it when “necessary,” in the face of an imminent threat of harm to self or others.

That same year also saw the passage of Senate Bill 230, which requires policing agencies to revise policies to provide de-escalation guidelines.