Virtual Community De-Escalation Experience at Zane State College

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- Muskingum County is one of the first to be offered a virtual community de-escalation experience at Zane State College.

In partnership with the Muskingum County Social Justice Coalition, participants can use self-directed scenarios that teach and examine de-escalation techniques and community relationships virtually, Darryl Graves, Chair of the Muskingum County Social Justice Coalition said.

“There are two scenarios, one is really about behavioral health. The other is not specifically about race, but it involves an African American young man and his encounter with law enforcement and so people can expect to see what it looks like in those scenarios and how communication is important and how those scenarios tend to play out,” Graves stated.

The other scenario was set up where the participant was a bartender and a fight broke out in the restaurant. The virtual experience will guide the participant on techniques to de-escalate. 

Program director for the Zane State College Criminal Justice and Peace Officer Training Academy, John Gibson, also talked about how this type of technology is important for Southeast Ohio to have access to and experience.

“Sometimes in Southeast Ohio we aren’t previewed to a lot of the same training experiences that some of the larger agencies have, so the larger cities. So this is a really good project, a really good initiative to help bring some of this training to Southeast Ohio. So it’s fully immersive and it helps participants with decision making and like general mentioned, communication and those types of things, whether you’re in law enforcement or not,” Gibson said.

The experience is about 30 minutes long for both of the completed stories, participants can also complete a survey at the end of their experience. 

The event is free and residents can participate inside of the Health Science Hall room 307 tomorrow from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. and Wednesday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.