The Good Stranger Frame for Police and Military Activities

Abstract

We sought to understand how some police officers and military personnel are more effective than others at increasing civilian good will following encounters. Such officers can be termed “Good Strangers” (GSs). We conducted Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) interviews with 17 U.S. police officers and 24 warfighters (Marines and Army soldiers). The CTA interviews yielded a total of 92 incidents, which were used to identify critical skills for training warfighters to become GSs. These skills supported a professional identity as a GS – seeking opportunities to increase civilian trust in police/military. Increasing trust from civilians requires skills in gaining voluntary compliance, building rapport, de-escalating conflicts, trading-off risk versus trust building, and taking the perspective of civilians.