It would seem that training programs may help. After all, people respond better to meaningful requests than to arbitrary orders. Something like "Sir, I'm going

It would seem that training programs may help. After all, people respond better to meaningful requests than to arbitrary orders. Something like "Sir, I'm going to need you to move to the other side of the street while we ascertain the situation." may work better than "Move to the other side of the street.". But some of it is unavoidable. Americans seem to live with a siege mentality that I found uncommon in other developed nations (except the UK to a lesser degree). The police reflect this mentality with a constant fear that the people they're talking to will resort to violence. Of course, it is somewhat justified in their case because of the relative lack of safety in American cities in comparison to other developed nations (a homicide rate comparable to India, for instance).