Statutes and Laws
State statute that serves as the guideline for Peace Officers in California regarding use of force.
PC 835(a)
Name the three classic Graham factors considered when evaluating the reasonableness of force.
Severity of the crime, immediacy of the threat, and active resistance/attempting to evade by flight.
Any use of force that creates a substantial risk of causing death or serious bodily injury.
Deadly Force
Instead of writing, "The patient was aggressive," identify three specific behaviors you could document.
Examples: Clenched fists, bladed stance, advancing toward officers, verbal threats, attempts to strike, etc.
A use of force occurred. Who is responsible to ensure medical treatment was provided.
The Officer who used force
Foundational case law for use of force recognized nationwide. This is where the "Objective Reasonableness" standard was set for law enforcement.
Graham v. Connor
True or False: The reasonableness of force should be judged with 20/20 hindsight based on what the officers later learn.
Whenever feasible, officers shall use techniques and tools consistent with their training to reduce the intensity of any encounter with a subject and enable an officer to have additional options to mitigate the need to use higher levels of force that are situationally appropriate, while maintaining control of the situation.
Alternative Tactics - De-escalation
Instead of "The patient resisted," what should your report describe?
The specific physical actions constituting resistance and how those actions affected the officer's response.
An officer observes another officer using force that is clearly beyond what is necessary. When feasible, what is the observing officer required to do?
Intercede.
This Bill expanded the language in PC835(a) and PC196 to provide more guidelines on deadly force and evaluation of necessary force applications.
Assembly Bill 392
An officer encounters a patient who is yelling and refusing commands but is unarmed, contained, and not presenting an immediate threat. What should the officer consider before escalating force?
De-escalation, time, distance, communication, available resources, and other feasible alternatives.
True/False
Hospital Police Officers shall not use force until a crime has been committed.
FALSE
OPS Policy 300.2
"Officers need not wait for injury to occur to themselves or others before taking action to prevent it."
True/False
The Officer who used force can conduct an interview of the suspect so long as a reasonable amount of time has passed.
FALSE
Two officers use different levels of force during the same incident. Does that automatically mean one officer's force was unreasonable? Explain.
No. Each officer's force is evaluated based on the totality of circumstances and information reasonably known to that officer at the time.
This type of response, tool, method or weapon may be used by officers when the officer reasonably believes standard Department-issued tools/techniques are impractical or ineffective in rapidly evolving conditions.
Improvised Response
(Weapon of opportunity)
LOC staff has a patient in a wall containment. You arrive on scene and see they are struggling to secure the patient. One arm is unrestrained. You pin the arm to the wall to assist, with no further action taken. This is known as what?
Non reportable use of force
This Bill enacted California Government Code 7286 which required specific Use of Force policies and training mandates for every Law Enforcement agency in California.
Senate Bill 230
What does "totality of the circumstances" mean when evaluating an officer's force decision?
All Facts reasonable known to the officer at the time, considered together rather than in isolation.
Present ability, opportunity, and apparent intent to carry out a violent act is needed to articulate this was present.
Imminent Threat