Leps 500 Module 5 Assignment
Leps 500 Module 5 Assignment
Sean Kearney
Much debate has attached to questions surrounding police use of force in America,
particularly since the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Central to
this discussion is a movement to standardize use of force policies amongst the nation’s
approximately 18,000 [Bureau of Justice Statistics (2016)] local, state, and Federal law
enforcement agencies. The 2019 National Law Enforcement Use of Force Committee,
comprised of leading experts and stakeholders, has taken on this critical policy question. The
Committee has conducted a thorough literature review, consulted and collaborated with
interested parties, and synthesized its work in the form of a policy recommendation.
Supreme Court in Tennessee v. Garner and Graham v. Connor reveals in essence that objectively
reasonable force may be used, as determined by a similarly trained officer and without the
benefit of 20/20 hindsight. These standards have changed little since the 1980s and are the
present-day “law of the land” for use of force by law enforcement as discussed by Marvel and
Fields in LEPS 500 Presentation 5.1 (2019). More recently, Scott v. Harris clarified use of
deadly force in a vehicle pursuit in relation to the danger to the public caused by the suspect’s
flight.
After the death of Michael Brown in 2014, there has been a resurgence of scholarly works
in the area of police use of force. The majority of the literature focuses upon use of deadly force
against blacks and other minorities, and researchers such as Obasogie and Newman (2017) would
propose to treat this situation as a public health crisis to be solved with exhaustive policies. Entities
such as the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) (2015), President Obama’s Task Force on
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21st Century Policing (2015), and the United States Commission on Civil Rights (2018) have also
studied this issue and recommended various strategies ranging from restrictive use of force
policies, consent decrees, enhanced training, and other complex remedies. However, as
Commissioner Peter Kirsanow of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights notes in his dissenting
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that even if every single police officer were
perfectly trained, had not a shred of explicit or implicit racial bias, and never made
a mistake under pressure, many individuals would still be killed by police every
year.
Another proposal, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) National Consensus
Policy (2017) crafted by law enforcement experts, adds structure to what is essentially the
refresher training.
Also noteworthy in the literature is that the relative infrequency of police use of force as a
percentage of all calls for service. A typical municipal police agency such as the San Diego
Police Department uses force in less than one percent of all calls for service [Marvel in LEPS
500 presentation 5.1 (2019)]. This statistic is all the more remarkable, considering that police
calls for service are typically generated when all other efforts to control a situation by non-law-
In more recent police use of force incidents, video is often available as a result of body-
worn cameras, bystander cell phones, and other sources. It is germane to note, however, that
considerable dispute over the legitimacy of the use of force still exists, even with an insider’s
view of the incident as provided by video. After the Scott v. Harris decision, Kahan, Hoffman,
and Brahman (2009) noted that even with relatively incontrovertible video evidence such as that
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available from the Harris pursuit, there are those in the community that would not support the
use of deadly force to terminate a pursuit, and that such attitudes often reflect racial and political
lines.
In California, the 2018 shooting death of Stephon Clark, captured on police video in
Sacramento, gave life to a proposed amendment to California law regarding deadly force by
public officers. The bill, AB 931, would require that deadly force be singularly necessary to
resolve a situation as opposed to objectively reasonable as per Graham v. Connor, and proposed
that officers could be criminally charged with homicide if such guidelines were not followed.
Supporters of this bill claimed that increased accountability would result for police officers using
deadly force, while opponents asserted that officers would be held to an impossible standard
while making split-second decisions and could hesitate for fear of being charged with a crime.
AB 931 was defeated in the 2018 legislative session; however, it has been promised that a
Recommendations
In light of the continuum of proposals previously discussed, the 2019 National Law
based upon the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) National Consensus Policy
(2017). As suggested by the title, the policy is an agreement at a national level amongst eleven
standardization. The policy includes the following language, which encapsulates the Supreme
It is the policy of this law enforcement agency to value and preserve human life.
Officers shall use only the force that is objectively reasonable to effectively bring
an incident under control, while protecting the safety of the officer and others.
Officers shall use force only when no reasonably effective alternative appears to
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exist and shall use only the level of force which a reasonably prudent officer would
use under the same or similar circumstances.
Simply put, this policy has the best chance of survival as a viable and legally defensible course
Conclusion
After rigorous research, collaboration, and consideration of law enforcement use of force
policies and current best practices, the 2019 National Law Enforcement Use of Force Committee
has rendered a decision. The Committee feels that it has recommended a practical course of
action that meets or exceeds all reasonable expectations of its stakeholders. As the proposed
national use of force policy is implemented, the Committee is committed to actively soliciting
feedback in order to ensure that citizens receive the highest quality of service from the Nation’s
law enforcement officers. The Committee wishes to thank its members and stakeholders for
References
Bureau of Justice Statistics (2016). National Sources of Law Enforcement Employment Data.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB931
International Association of Chiefs of Police (2017). National consensus policy on use of force.
o/National_Consensus_Policy_On_Use_Of_Force.pdf
Kahan, D., Hoffman, D., & Braman, D. (2009). Whose eyes are you going to believe? Scott v.
Harris and the perils of cognitive illiberalism. Harvard Law Review, 122(3), 838–906.
content/uploads/2009/04/kahan_hoffman_braman.pdf
Obasogie, O. K., & Newman, Z. (2017). Police violence, use of force policies, and public
https://doi.org/10.1177/0098858817723665
Police Executive Research Forum (Eds.) (2015). Re-engineering training on police use of force.
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing (2015) Final report of the President’s task force
https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf
United States Commission on Civil Rights (2018). Police use of force: an examination of
https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/11-15-Police-Force.pdf