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.