Learn English – Meaning & Origin of phrase “Step into [him/her]”

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I've done a bit of searching for this phrase and found the following:

"step into"

Idioms & Phrases

Involve oneself or intervene, as in He knew he'd be able to step into a job in his father's firm , or Jane asked Mary to step into the matter and settle it . Also see step in.

However, the place I first heard the phrase is on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, where Deakins, the supervisor of the Major Case Squad, uses it with a direct object of a suspect or a witness, which barely fits the definition. The definition implies usage towards a situation or position.

Exchanges on the show usually go something like this:

Detective: "We don't have any real leverage on him to find out what he knows!"

Supervisor: "Step into him."

Or:

Detective: "As long as his lawyer is protecting him, we'll never get him to talk."

Supervisor: "Step into him. Hard."

Detective: Re-enters the interrogation room and squeezes the information from the suspect over the lawyers increasing complaints.

That seems to imply there is another, even more idiomatic usage for the phrase with a meaning closer to "investigate" or "harass". How common is this idiom? Is the screen writer mis-using a legitimate idiom? Or is there another meaning or police/detective slang that's not so documented around the web?

Best Answer

To step into someone is to take a step uncomfortably close to them. It is frequently encountered in sports as a strategy to limit an opponent's freedom of motion or to recover initiative from an opponent with longer reach.

Zezel, a former pro soccer player, would often tie up his man's stick, step into him and kick the puck back to his winger. This is the type of play the creative center must learn to master if he is going to consistently control the faceoff. - hockeyshot.com, "How to Win Faceoffs"

You have options when you’re being defended aggressively in the post. The defender will often work to move you away from your comfort zone on the low block. Try any of the following strategies to create a seal down low:
. . . Face the defense: Turn and face your defensive man and step into him with one foot between his two feet. Turn and pivot, putting your butt into him to seal him off. - basketball.isport.com, "Effective Low Post Moves in Basketball"

The coach said to me, 'listen, keep up the pressure on this young boy. This boy is strong and he could move. So, you have to cut the ring off on him and step into him, and that is what I did. - Jamaica Observer, "Spencer too strong for overmatched Bowen"

Deakins is advising the detective to "get up close and personal" with the suspect, to press him closely with his questioning and give him no opportunity to put himself at an emotional or discursive "distance" from the detective's attack.

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