NCJ Number
200089
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 70 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2003 Pages: 142-145
Date Published
April 2003
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses when a police officer should stop using force against a resisting suspect, i.e., when the officer perceives that the suspect has become "submissive."
Abstract
The article first defines the terms "resistance," "compliance," and "submission." "Resistance" can range from passive to combative to lethal. It involves any type of suspect behavior designed to prevent the officer from taking the suspect into custody. "Compliance" means that the suspect obeys every command the officer gives him/her. "Submission" is a state somewhere between resistance and total compliance. In a state of submission, the suspect indicates a willingness to submit to the officer's authority but for some reason cannot or will not follow specific directions given by the officer. This may be due to the suspect's physical limitations or a language barrier. When an officer perceives that a resisting subject has stopped his/her resistance and is submitting to an officer's authority, then the use of force should stop. There should be no punitive applications of force after the suspect has become submissive. Because each situation and each suspect can involve distinctive combinations of behavior and communication, the suspect may manifest submission in a variety of ways. The criteria for a state of submission is what a reasonable, trained officer would perceive to be submission. At the point a reasonable, trained officer would perceive that a suspect is being submissive, then any application of force beyond that necessary to control the suspect would be considered excessive. Officers must be trained to discipline themselves to recognize submission and stop using force at appropriate times, while remaining alert to a suspect's tactic of faking submission to gain an advantage. This article suggests tactics that can assist in recognizing a suspect's submission. 13 notes