NCJ Number
164307
Journal
Law Enforcement Trainer Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Dated: (September/October 1996) Pages: 12-13
Date Published
1996
Length
2 pages
Annotation
If a police officer must use force, the immediate use of the maximum level of force that is legally permissible will generally reduce the need to use excessive force to end an encounter.
Abstract
Police officers have been instructed that they should escalate the amount of force that they are using in direct response to the amount of force being used against them or the amount of resistance being used by a suspect. If a suspect is verbally resisting the police officer, the police officer is permitted to verbally prod the suspect or to lightly touch the suspect in order to prompt compliance with the police officer's command. Often, the escalation by a police officer of the level of force which is being used causes or allows a suspect to also escalate the level of force that he is using. This generally results in the police officer needing to use more force to end the encounter than would have originally been needed. The better approach, once it is determined that force is necessary, is to use immediately the maximum level of force legally permissible to control or apprehend a suspect. By immediately using the maximum level of force that is legally permitted, the suspect is given less of an opportunity to escalate his resistance, is given less of an opportunity to maintain a posture from which he feels he cannot retreat, and is provided less of an opportunity for the police officer and the suspect to become injured.