Arrest and support team students practise stress regulation

A hostage-taking incident, an arrest of suspects bearing firearms or an arrest at a high altitude, these are situations in police work that are life-threatening, or have the potential to become life-threatening. That is why the arrest and support team (AOT) comes into action in situations like these. As these specialized actions can be intense at times, they are not only physically, but also particularly mentally demanding. The AOT course increasingly pays attention to this aspect.

The AOT is a specialized team within the Special Interventions Division (DSI). This team is a joint effort of the police and the army. The students who embark on the AOT course already have practical military or police experience. It is a challenging course that demands the utmost from the students. In preparation for this, they practise how to deal with stress in an exercise that pushes boundaries.

Breath and thought control

The room is muggy and clammy and smells of chlorine. Barefoot and dressed in blue overalls, the students enter. As they enter, they are blindfolded and handcuffed. They seat themselves on a bench against the grey tiled wall, next to the swimming pool, staring fixedly and waiting for what is about to happen. ‘Some are still relatively relaxed, while others are very focused. But you can see that most of them are working on their breathing,’ David* explains. He is lecturer of arrest and self-defence skills at the Netherlands Police Academy. In the AOT course, he teaches the students mental resilience.

David: ‘When the students enter the room where the exercise takes place, they hear sounds that appeal to the imagination. At that moment, they turn inside themselves, so that they can keep their calm by paying attention to their breathing; by setting goals for themselves. It is important that they don’t start thinking in scenarios, but rather remain unflappable. What if it goes completely wrong? They can stay calm by thinking: ‘In a moment, I’ll hear what my task will be, and I’ll execute that’. That’s thought control.’

Understrain and overstrain prevention

In the course, the students learn tactics, techniques and procedures. In support of these ‘hard skills’, they are equipped with mental resilience tools. In David’s view it’s particularly important that they ‘identify and recognize all sensations in their bodies and heads. And to use them to their advantage. Different tools, such as thought control, visualization, or stress regulation work differently for everyone. It is quite individual. That’s why we tell them that they should pick what works for them personally.’

‘The aim of this exercise is stress regulation. Do I have the right stress level? You should be neither understrained nor overstrained. Both situations will turn against you during the operation. Understrain can occur if multiple alerts in succession turn out to be false alarms. You are in rest and your attention keeps wandering off. If you’re overstrained, on the other hand, your heart and breath rates are increased, and stress is tangible. It’s important to end up right in the middle.’

‘It’s essential that you don’t falter’

During the exercise, the students are coached individually by officers who are already working operationally. Vincent* is one of these officers. He grabs a student by the arm and guides him. ‘Doorstep, turn left, plateau, forward’, he orders the student, who is still blindfolded and handcuffed. He keeps a close eye on the student. As a result, he is well-placed to conduct an evaluation interview immediately after the exercise. ‘Sometimes, a student says that he was relaxed, and didn’t feel stressed, but when the blindfold came off, I saw big eyes and a very tense face. At that point, it’s nice to be able to persist and ask follow-up questions.’

‘In this work we find ourselves in situations where it is essential that you don’t falter. If the commander says you have to do something, then you actually do it. You can’t hesitate. We all have to be able to work outside our comfort zone and do things that are uncomfortable. It’s work at the highest level. That is why it is important to prevent that the students use their ‘reptilian brain’, as it may cause them to freeze during an operation. You can imagine that this produces a life-or-death situation in our work. Lots of practice during the course will enable them to apply this in practice later. They have already experienced what stress feels like and how it affects them. And how they can get it under control’, Vincent explains.

Talking about emotions and feelings

Lecturer David looks back on a successful exercise. ‘I liked that some students shared personal stories. To give just one example: one of the students spoke about a situation he had experienced in the past, and that made the exercise more tense for him.’ What did this student do to get his stress under control? ‘I paid particular attention to my breathing. And I put courage into myself to make the best of it. Thoughts can make or break you’, he explains after the exercise.

‘The blindfold came off, and most students reacted very openly confessing: ‘I found it scary’. A couple of years ago, nobody would have said that in this setting. They may have felt it but wouldn’t have acknowledged it. And acknowledging emotions is important, because only then can you use them to your advantage. The old guard are less inclined to open up. That’s a cultural and generational difference as things have really changed in this respect. It has become much more humane’, David says.

It is a fact of life in top-level sport too

David: ‘The younger generation is more amenable to mental strength issues. It’s more acceptable than before to talk about breathing. It was a struggle for us as teaching staff. At some point we saw that the mental burden was very high. It’s high in any case, because the students set the bar quite high for themselves. But with the right tools we can see how we can get that stress level down. In this day and age, it is impossible to imagine top-class sport without it too. Athletes have mental coaches to enhance their performance. We, too, achieve those benefits.’

*David and Vincent are not their real names. We changed their names for reasons of privacy.