Straus Faculty Trains Los Angeles Police Department in Conflict Resolution

On January 29-30, Professors Sukhsimranjit Singh, Peter Robinson, and Stephanie Blondell trained a cohort of 50 Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) personnel, including officers and civilian staff, in workplace conflict resolution skills and practices.

The LAPD and Straus collectively and purposefully designed the course's curriculum to address issues specific to LAPD's unique policing environment of a large, complex agency with a diverse workforce including its distinctive structural ranking and reporting structure. The training also focused on an increasingly intergenerational workforce at the LAPD, the dynamic nature of policing, and distinct harms faced by personnel.

Participants gained skills in early identification of and de-escalation of workplace conflict, leadership styles and competencies, problem solving models for supervisor-employee and employee-employee conflict, and insights into the psychology of conflict and high-conflict personalities. Judge Daniel Weinstein, Straus' Peacemaker Award honoree, also presented insights to the LAPD personnel, sharing his experience as a judge and distinguished mediator. He was joined by Captain Jennifer Thomas, who oversees risk management for the Department.

"The knowledge you will be gaining from this course comes from the nation's foremost leaders in conflict resolution...With the knowledge gained from this course, we will achieve a better understanding of how to handle conflict in the workplace, naturally enhancing how we serve our community," said Chief Charlie Beck in a message directed to his staff.

The LAPD and Straus worked in partnership with the Los Angeles Police Foundation and Motorola Solutions Foundations to hold this training with the goal of creating efficiency, effectiveness, increasing morale, and preserving careers to ultimately protect and serve the LAPD family and broader community at large.