USE OF FORCE

Question 1

Hard Personal Weapons:

Answer 1

Strike applied and intended to overcome a physical assault or active threat of assault upon the officer or another (a strike with a closed fist or a kick)

Question 2

Intermediate Personal Weapons:

Answer 2

Strike applied to a nerve motor point as a stunning or distraction technique to cause a motor dysfunction and balance displacement in order to control a resistant subject (an open hand strike or knee strike to a nerve motor point)

Question 3

Serious Use of Force: An incident in which an officer’s action resulted in:

Answer 3

 Death, or the likelihood of death
 Hospitalization
 A broken bone
 Loss of consciousness
 Serious disfigurement
 Disability
 All incidents where a person
receives a bite from a Departmental canine
 Firearms discharge directed at a person
 All Critical Firearm Discharges

Question 4

Officers may use force to:

Answer 4

 Effect an arrest
 Prevent escape
 Overcome resistance to a lawful order or
action
 Protect others or themselves from bodily
harm

Question 5

Certain factors, when considered collectively, may influence an officer’s determination of how much force to use toovercome a subject’s resistance. Examples of factors include, but are not limited to:

Answer 5

 Officer/subject factors such as age, size, strength, injury, exhaustion, and number of officers versus number of subjects
 Whether the subject is under the influence of drugs or alcohol or mental defect
 Proximity to weapons
 Availability of other options
 Seriousness of the offense
 Exigent circumstances

Question 6

It is important to note that an officer does not need to use the lowest level of force on the continuum when the officer can articulate that a higher level of force was reasonable. This continuum should be viewed as a sliding scale, not a ladder

Answer 6

FYI

Question 7

Rushing in to make an immediate apprehension is not always necessary or appropriate. Frequently, such action reduces an officer’s range of available options. Methods of tactical disengagement include, but are not limited to:

Answer 7

 Area containment
 Surveillance
 Waiting out a subject
 Summoning reinforcements  Requesting specialized units

Question 8

Passive or Non-responsive:

Answer 8

Uncooperative when taken into custody or fails to respond to verbal commands or other directions

Question 9

Active Resistance:

Answer 9

hysically evasive movements to defeat the officer’s attempt at control, to include bracing, tensing, pushing, or verbally signaling an intention not to be taken into or retained in custody, provided that the intent to resist has been clearly manifested

Question 10

Aggression:

Answer 10

Physical assault, or active threat of assault, upon the officer or another

Question 11

Life Threatening Assault:

Answer 11

An attack or threat to attack wherein an officer reasonably believes that the assault will result in serious physical injury or death

Question 12

LowLevelControl(Escort Techniques)

Answer 12

Low Level Control includes escort techniques used to remove a non-cooperative subject; for example, open hand escort to direct movement

Question 13

Intermediate Level of Control (Chemical agents, conducted electrical weapons (CEW), Pressure Points, Joint Manipulation, and Control Holds)

Answer 13

Includes the use of Departmentally issued chemical agents, CEWs, and the use of approved pressure points, joint control holds, and takedowns; it may also include intermediate personal weapons strikes used to stun or distract prior to applying control holds; the use of intermediate personal weapons in this instance is not a means intended to defeat resistance, but rather to gain control; for example, an open hand strike to the upper torso or a knee strike to nerve motor point in the leg for the purpose of stunning and distracting a subject in order to apply a control hold

Question 14

High Level of Control:

Answer 14

Includes the use of hard personal weapon strikes,Departmentally issued tactical baton, less lethal launchers, the WRAPTM system, and Canine; the use of hard personal weapons strikes in this instance is intended to overcome a subject’s aggressive resistance when necessary to gain control; for example, a closed fist strike or kick delivered to neutralize an active assault on an officer

Question 15

Lethal Force:

Answer 15

Includes the use of a firearm or any force which has a reasonable likelihood of causing death or serious physical injury; officers may only use lethal force when they have an objectively reasonable belief the suspect poses an imminent threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or another person

Question 16

It is the policy of the Department not to shoot at occupants of a vehicle; however, there are rare times when shooting at a vehicle may be justified. The following are examples of such instances – these are not all inclusive:

Answer 16

The occupants of the vehicle are using deadly force, and innocent persons would not be unduly jeopardized by the officers’ actions.
 When an officer or person is pinned or being dragged by the vehicle and innocent persons would not be unduly jeopardized by the officers’ actions.

Question 17

The Use of Force Review is an administrative procedure intended to assess:

Answer 17

 Whether or not officers are properly trained in use of force techniques
 Whether or not the techniques, if properly executed, were effective
 If the use of force was within Departmental guidelines

Question 18

A Use of Force Review is initiated, within the BlueTeam module, prior to the end of shift and completed within how many days

Answer 18

7

Question 19

If the use of force is serious, the Supervisor shall notify

Answer 19

SIRT

Question 20

A Use of Force Review is not required when:

Answer 20

 A full custody arrest is made without the use of force and transport occurs, but the subject is released without being charged, i.e. handcuffed and released
 An individual is handcuffed for officer safety and released
 An officer points a weapon at an individual
 An officer employs an unresisted escort  An officer utilizes the Hobble strap
without the use of force

Question 21

Handcuff and release incidents shall be documented in a Case Record that details the circumstances of the incident. The use of the Hobble strap shall also be documented in a Case Record. These reports will be reviewed and approved by a Shift Commander or Acting Shift Commander.

Answer 21

FYI

Question 22

If an officer working secondary employment or County authorized overtime is involved in a use of force incident, the on-duty sector Supervisor, or Supervisor of the overtime assignment, shall respond and ensure that the steps detailed in this section are completed prior to end of the Supervisor’s shift.

Answer 22

FYI

Question 23

`SIRT will respond to the scene of all serious use of force incidents. Serious incidents include those resulting in:

Answer 23

 Death, or the likelihood of death
 Hospitalization
 A broken bone
 Loss of consciousness
 Serious disfigurement
 Disability
 All incidents where a person receives a
bite from a Departmental canine
 Firearms discharges directed at a person
 AllCriticalFirearmDischarges
 Striking a handcuffed individual (but not
simply handcuffing)

Question 24

The Executive Review Panel ERP membership will rotate, but will include a member of the

Answer 24

Command Staff, a member of the Training and Education Division (TED), the affected Deputy Chief, and a representative from the County Attorney’s Office.

Question 25

In addition to these reviews, the ERP shall conduct an annual analysis of critical firearm discharges to detect patterns or problems. This analysis shall be submitted to the Chief of Police by

Answer 25

February 1st of the following calendar year.

Question 26

IAD shall retain a copy of the ERP findings for how many years, in accordance with the Records Retention Schedule and LEOBR.

Answer 26

5

Question 27

Where an officer discharges a firearm for the purpose of humanely destroying an injured animal, no Use of Force Review shall be conducted. The involved officer shall complete a Case Record, and document appropriately in the BlueTeam Module (the Discharge of Firearms portion).
If an officer destroys an animal for any other purpose, a Use of Force Review shall be conducted. The involved officer’s Supervisor shall conduct a Use of Force Review and document in the BlueTeam

Answer 27

FYI

Question 28

Graham vs. Connor (490 U.S. 386, 109 S.Ct. 1865)

Answer 28

During the trial, the District Court considered the following four factors in determining whether the officers used excessive force:
 The need for the application of force  The relationship between the need and
the amount of force that was used
 The extent of the injury inflicted
 Whether the force was applied in a good
faith effort to maintain and restore discipline, or maliciously and sadistically for the purpose of causing harm

According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the “reasonableness” of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the benefit of hindsight. This “reasonableness” must include the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments – in circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly changing – about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation. Thus, the test used by the District Court is incompatible with a proper analysis under the Fourth Amendment.

Question 29

Tennessee vs. Garner (471 U.S. 1, 105 S. Ct. 1694)

Answer 29

In this case, the United States Supreme Court held that officers cannot resort to deadly force unless they have probable cause to believe that the suspect has committed a felony and poses an immediate and significant threat to the safety of the officer, or a danger to the community at large. The Court affirmed the Court of Appeals decision limiting the use of deadly force to apprehend a fleeing felon.

To determine whether such a seizure is reasonable, the suspect’s rights must be balanced against the police department’s need make an arrest and enforce laws. This balancing process stipulates that, even though there is probable cause to seize asuspect, an officer may not always do so by killing him. The use of deadly force to prevent the escape of all felony suspects, whatever the circumstances, is unreasonable under the Constitution.

Question 30

LIFE THREATENING ASSAULT— Threat of death or serious physical injury to officer or another.

Answer 30

Lethal Force

Question 31

AGGRESSION/ High level of force and officer may use what type of force=

Answer 31

Physical assault, or active threat of assault upon the officer or another./ Tactical Baton, Hard Personal Weapon Control, Less-Lethal Launchers as Impact Weapons, Wrap System, & Canine

Question 32

ACTIVE RESISTANCE/ Intermediate and officer may use what type of force=

Answer 32

Physically evasive movements to defeat the officers attempt at control, or a verbally manifested intent to resist / Chemical Agent Delivery Device, Conducted Energy Weapon, Pressure Points, Intermediate Personal Weapons, & Joint Manipulation. Less Lethal Launchers when used for the purpose of chemical agent delivery w/o impact

Question 33

PASSIVE or NON RESPONSIVE/ Low and officer may use what type of force=

Answer 33

Fails to respond to direction but exhibits no physical resistance. /. Escort Techniques