National De-escalation Training Center
Police Science and Training Center of Excellence
National headquarters: Wayne State University Police Department, Detroit, MI
The Wayne State University Police Department (WSUPD) is proud to be the national and regional headquarters for the National De-escalation Training Center (NDTC). This hybrid de-escalation training known as DISC Esoterica is specifically designed for law enforcement officers, providing special assessment and situational skills training that is noted to reduce conflict and avoid potential tragic scenarios for citizens and officers.
The De-escalation course (DE-100) is offered through a partnership between the Wayne State University Police Department and the nonprofit NDTC. The copyrighted, trademarked and tested program provides hours of in-depth training to WSUPD officers and will soon be made available to police departments around the United States through regional centers.
How DISC Esoterica training works
The NDTC's training is based upon the DISC assessment, the most widely used personality model around the world. The NDTC model, which is known as the new DISC Esoterica personality model, is a hybrid of the DISC assessment and is the first major improvement and most significant advancement in DISC since its creation by William Marston in 1928. The augmentations to DISC that are added by Esoterica expand the four traditional DISC personalities into 26 subtype traits that provide a swifter and clearer determination of an individual's personality during an encounter. DISC Esoterica trains an officer to understand behavior and intentions in a matter of seconds, decreasing the potential for volatility while gaining peaceful compliance.
Two classes of Wayne State University police officers have successfully completed the DISC Esoterica de-escalation training. Officers will go through 16 hours of classroom, hands-on and simulator-augmented training scenarios for optimum training outcomes. The Wayne State University Police Department will be 100% trained by August 2020. Recertification training will be provided to all WSUPD officers on a semiannual basis.
The origin of de-escalation training
DISC Esoterica was developed in a university program funded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and administered by the Defense Intelligence Agency. This new version of William Marston's DISC model has been taught to the intelligence community, military, universities and private companies, and it has been used in de-escalation and insider threat training since 2015.
An investment in our community
The Wayne State University Police Department believes that the National De-escalation Training Center is an invaluable investment in our officers, and ultimately in our community. As a nonprofit entity, it better serves the interests of the public sector because it allows Wayne State University to access grant funding to defray training costs that would otherwise be borne by the department. The partnership between the Wayne State University Police Department and the NDTC also allows for ongoing research with nationally and regionally accredited universities, nonprofit institutions, and law enforcement agencies to further collaborate, innovate and develop common training standards in de-escalation based upon best practices.
Training center information
Whenever additional NDTC news happens, it will be published on this webpage. Please refer back to WSUPD NDTC website for updates about the Wayne State University Police Department National De-escalation Training Center headquarters. You can also contact us at 313-577-2062.