7.7: Use of Force Continuum
Most law enforcement agencies have policies that guide their use of force. These policies describe an escalating series of actions an officer may take to resolve a situation. This continuum generally has many levels, and officers are instructed to respond with a level of force appropriate to the situation at hand, acknowledging that the officer may move from one part of the continuum to another in a matter of seconds.
Examples of a Use-of-Force Continuum
An example of a use-of-force continuum follows:
- Officer Presence — No force is used. Considered the best way to resolve a situation.
- The mere presence of a law enforcement officer works to deter crime or diffuse a situation.
- Officers' attitudes are professional and nonthreatening.
- Verbalization — Force is not-physical.
- Officers issue calm, nonthreatening commands, such as "Let me see your identification and registration."
- Officers may increase their volume and shorten commands in an attempt to gain compliance. Short commands might include "Stop," or "Don't move."
- Empty-Hand Control — Officers use bodily force to gain control of a situation.
- Soft technique. Officers use grabs, holds and joint locks to restrain an individual.
- Hard technique. Officers use punches and kicks to restrain an individual.
- Less-Lethal Methods — Officers use less-lethal technologies to gain control of a situation.
- Blunt impact. Officers may use a baton or projectile to immobilize a combative person.
- Chemical. Officers may use chemical sprays or projectiles embedded with chemicals to restrain an individual (e.g., pepper spray).
- Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs). Officers may use CEDs to immobilize an individual. CEDs discharge a high-voltage, low-amperage jolt of electricity at a distance.
- Lethal Force — Officers use lethal weapons to gain control of a situation. Should only be used if a suspect poses a serious threat to the officer or another individual.
- Officers use deadly weapons such as firearms to stop an individual's actions.
Articulating Use of Force
It is important to understand the use of force continuum is not a chart for directed action or a step-by-step guide for response to a potentially violent situation. This means if you engage in a situation you may use any level of force to gain compliance of a situation. For example, if you engage a suspect who is being verbally resistive, this means he/she is only verbalizing they do not intend to comply, the officer may use a lower level of force to get the suspect to comply such as verbal commands, or empty hand controls. However, if this same suspect is armed with a weapon or significantly larger/stronger than the officer, there may be justification to increase the use of force to gain the suspect's compliance.
Similar to probable cause and reasonable suspicion, the use of force application is judged by the officer's articulation of facts. What facts were present from the officer's perspective to justify the use of force used? Multiple considerations are taken into account when determining what level of force is necessary, level of cooperation to officer commands, size, and distance between the officer and suspect, is the suspect armed or has weapons close/available, is the officer alone, or are other officers present, and is the suspect alone, how far away is officer back up, etc. This is just an example of some of the considerations used to determine what level of force is necessary.
In addition, an officer does not have to follow the levels in order. What this means is if an officer starts using verbal commands and the suspect draws out a weapon, the officer does not have to go through all the levels of force. The officer can pass over hand controls, hard techniques, or the less-lethal forms (pepper spray, baton, and/or taser) and go straight to deadly force (firearm) depending on the threat (weapon) present. All incidents that require the use of force are investigated and documented. This means the officer must prepare a report and identify all factors which guided his or her decision to use force to gain compliance. In the report, the officer provides the articulable facts they used to determine the level of force necessary to gain the suspect's compliance.