TY - JOUR AB - Resistance is an ambivalent behaviour, which, on the one hand, is necessary in certain situations to maintain democratic conditions, but on the other hand, it can also lead to anarchic conditions in society. After a brief historical summary of the resistance of the population in post-war Germany against political decisions and social authorities, the author concentrates on the resistance against police officers who can no longer rely on the natural authority of their office in the 21st century: Any form of direct coercion must be reflected in the present with regard to legal consequences. The comparative example of petty theft shows that resistance to police officers is not an offence typical of young people. Resistance is concentrated in the night hours at weekends on public streets, paths and squares, and the perpetrators are very often under the influence of alcohol. In the further course, the stages in the escalation process between citizen and police officer are followed in a differentiated way, taking into account the reason for the intervention. The first level of analysis is the announcement of the police action at the scene and the citizen’s reaction to it. The second level examines the implementation of police action and the subsequent reaction of the citizen. The third level evaluates further police actions and the subsequent reactions of the counterpart. As a result, it can be noted that from the time the police use physical violence, it can hardly be expected that the situation will calm down. De-escalation measures must therefore be introduced prior to initial acts of physical aggression; on the one hand, the focus is on verbal communication, and, on the other hand, on the replacement of the police officer by a colleague during a verbally intensified interaction process with the citizen. AU - Luff, Johannes DO - 10.7396/IE_2021_C ET - 09/2021 KW - loss of authority police escalation resistance LA - eng M1 - International Edition PY - 2021 SN - 1813-3495 SP - 23-31 ST - From Loss of Authority to Resistance. When interaction with the police escalates T2 - SIAK-Journal − Journal for Police Science and Practice TI - From Loss of Authority to Resistance. When interaction with the police escalates UR - https://www.bmi.gv.at/104/Wissenschaft_und_Forschung/SIAK-Journal/internationalEdition/files/Luff_IE_2021.pdf VL - 11 ID - 745 ER -