Performing the Peace: Using Playback Theatre in the Strengthening of Police-Community Relations.

BACKGROUND

Police-community relations have catapulted onto the national stage after several high-profile instances of alleged police brutality. Blame and hostility can be barriers to positive police-community relations. Playback is a form of audience-inspired, improvisational theater designed to promote connectivity and empathy through storytelling.

OBJECTIVES

We tested the feasibility and acceptability of an arts-based intervention, bringing together police officers and formerly incarcerated individuals from the same community in Memphis, Tennessee.

METHODS

We collected pre/post quantitative data from five police officers and five ex-offenders who took part in the intervention, as well as qualitative data to provide contextual information.

RESULTS

The project was feasible and acceptable to participants. Participants showed gains in their ability to make meaning of stressful life experiences. The officers and ex-offenders showed parallel gains in their increased positive attitudes toward the other group.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that creating contexts of safety and understanding necessary to address relational problems is both feasible and acceptable to law enforcement and ex-offenders.