Use of Force in Transition — The New Rules of Police Use of Force
Detailed Topics and Class Schedule
Shield Public Safety Training, Inc. — in partnership with Crivello, Nichols & Hall, S.C.
Use of Force in Transition:The New Rules of Police Use of Force
The Advanced Law Enforcement Symposium
Register Now
Private Reception at Lambeau Field — Included
Day One — Monday, July 13
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Welcome and Symposium Overview
Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain │ Sam Hall, Esq. │ Jeb Brown, Esq.
Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain │ Sam Hall, Esq. │ Jeb Brown, Esq.
The Complete Officer-Involved Shooting —
From Scene to Courtroom
From Scene to Courtroom
This session walks participants through the full lifecycle of an officer-involved shooting — from the moment of the shooting to the moment the civil verdict comes in — with emphasis on the investigative and command decisions that determine litigation outcomes.
Topics Include
- Immediate post-shooting command decisions: scene preservation, witness separation, and the Garrity minefield
- Parallel investigation management: criminal, administrative, and civil timelines running simultaneously
- The compelled statement problem — when IA needs answers and the DA isn't done yet
- Body-camera footage management: who sees it, when, and what the law requires vs. what policy allows
- Use-of-force review boards and shooting teams: structure, independence, and litigation exposure
- How plaintiffs' attorneys use investigative failures to build Monell claims
- The DA's declination letter and why it doesn't end the civil case
- Barnes v. Felix and the post-control force doctrine: how the Supreme Court's holding reshapes the analysis of force used after a subject is no longer an active threat
Morning Break │ 10:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Tactical Operations and the Law —
SWAT Deployment, Forced Entry, and High-Risk Warrant Liability
SWAT Deployment, Forced Entry, and High-Risk Warrant Liability
Post-Breonna Taylor, no-knock entries and tactical callout decisions have become command-level legal landmines. This session provides the legal framework every SWAT/SRT commander and agency counsel needs — delivered by three instructors whose combined experience spans SWAT command, constitutional law practice, and law enforcement policy at the highest levels.
Topics Include
- Legal standards governing SWAT activation — when does Graham analysis attach to the decision to deploy?
- No-knock and quick-knock entry doctrine after the national policy backlash
- The negligent tactical deployment theory — liability for decision-makers, not just the entry team
- Tennessee v. Garner and deadly force during tactical operations, including unintended-target scenarios
- Flash-bang and breaching device liability
- Hostage and barricade situations: decision frameworks and failure-point analysis
- Training and policy documentation as a Monell shield
Lunch Break │ 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
When the Dust Settles —
Use-of-Force Review, Accountability Systems, and Who's Really on the Hook
Use-of-Force Review, Accountability Systems, and Who's Really on the Hook
Every force incident sets a chain of institutional processes in motion — review boards, early warning flags, supervisor accountability reviews, and data collection obligations — that most officers never fully see or understand. Chief Gonzalez brings the perspective of a sitting chief and court-recognized use-of-force expert who has built and operated these systems from the inside.
Topics Include
- Early warning systems: what they must capture, how courts evaluate them, and what failure looks like in discovery
- Use-of-force review boards: structure, independence, documentation, and the Monell implications of how they are run
- Supervisor accountability in force incidents — when the sergeant becomes a defendant
- The chief's ratification problem: how post-incident statements and disciplinary decisions become evidence of municipal policy
- Force reporting systems: what data must be collected, how it must be stored, and what happens when it's incomplete
- Internal affairs and use-of-force investigations: independence, timelines, and the parallel proceeding minefield
- Building an audit-ready agency: the practical steps every officer and supervisor can take before litigation arrives
Afternoon Break │ 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM
Less-Lethal Technology —
Promise, Pitfalls, and Liability
Promise, Pitfalls, and Liability
Less-lethal force options are among the most frequently deployed and most frequently litigated tools in law enforcement. This session examines the full spectrum of less-lethal technology — spanning constitutional law, behavioral science, operational training, and command experience — with a grounded analysis of the constitutional framework governing each tool, the medical and liability risks that attach to their deployment, and the policy and training documentation required to defend their use in civil and criminal proceedings.
Topics Include
- Bryan v. MacPherson and Deorle v. Rutherford
- Proportionality analysis
- Post-deployment medical care
- Policy drafting and training requirements
Open Q&A with All Faculty
Participants submit questions and comments to the full faculty panel. Each instructor responds from their area of expertise.
Day Two — Tuesday, July 14
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM
De-Escalation Strategies —
Training, Policy, and Legal Reality
Training, Policy, and Legal Reality
De-escalation is no longer optional — courts are scrutinizing pre-force conduct more aggressively than at any point in the history of use-of-force litigation. But most officers have received de-escalation training that is heavy on philosophy and light on legal consequence. This session reframes de-escalation not as a cultural mandate but as a constitutional and legal obligation with concrete consequences.
Topics Include
- Graham v. Connor and Kingsley v. Hendrickson
- Duty-to-de-escalate trends
- Tactical repositioning, time, and distance
- Failure-to-de-escalate liability
- Case studies involving mentally ill subjects
Force Encounters on Trial —
What Juries Decide and Why It's Not Always What You Expect
What Juries Decide and Why It's Not Always What You Expect
The standard for justifiable force is set by the courts. The verdict is set by twelve people who have never worn a badge. This session examines how force cases are actually decided at trial, what factors drive jury outcomes independent of legal doctrine, and what command staff, trainers, and line officers can do before, during, and after a force incident to ensure the agency's position is as defensible in the courtroom as it was on the street.
Topics Include
- The reasonable officer standard as written in case law vs. as understood by a jury — why the gap is wider than most agencies realize
- How courts instruct juries on force decisions and what those instructions actually convey to a lay panel
- The role of BWC footage in jury deliberations: when video helps the defense and when it becomes the most damaging evidence in the case
- How plaintiff's counsel constructs the narrative — the language, framing, and emotional architecture of a winning force case
- Implicit bias evidence in use-of-force trials: how it gets admitted and how to counter it
- What the research on jury behavior in force cases tells us agencies and officers should be doing differently
- High-dollar verdict analysis: the cases that should have been defensible and the factors that actually determined the outcome
- Practical takeaways for training, documentation, and incident management in light of jury behavior research
Morning Break │ 10:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Officer Associated Death —
The Post–George Floyd Landscape
The Post–George Floyd Landscape
The legal and investigative landscape surrounding officer associated deaths has shifted fundamentally in the post-George Floyd era. This session equips officers, trainers, and command staff with a clear understanding of the medical realities, investigative obligations, and legal exposure that arise when someone dies during or following a law enforcement encounter.
Topics Include
- The collapse of excited delirium as a medical and legal defense — what the AMA, AHA, and ACEP rejections mean for litigation
- Positional asphyxia: the physiology, the warning signs officers must recognize, and the legal duty to act
- Prone restraint and hobble restraints: where the law is moving post-George Floyd and post-Elijah McClain
- The restraint asphyxia theory in civil and criminal proceedings — how plaintiffs are now arguing causation
- Barnes v. Felix and the causation implications for post-control force in prone restraint cases
- Officer associated death investigation: the first 60 minutes and the decisions that determine the legal outcome
- Medical care obligations during and after a use-of-force event — what reasonable care now requires
- Policy and training updates agencies must make now in light of the shifting medical consensus
- Documentation: what to write, what not to write, and how autopsy findings interact with officer reports
Lunch Break │ 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
K9 Deployment as a Use of Force —
Constitutional Standards, Liability Trends, and Policy Essentials
Constitutional Standards, Liability Trends, and Policy Essentials
K9 deployments are among the most actively litigated use-of-force scenarios in American law enforcement — and among the most undertrained at the command level. Courts are generating significant new case law on K9 liability, and most agency policies have not kept pace. This session covers the constitutional framework governing every phase of a K9 deployment — from the activation decision through the failure-to-call-off scenario.
Topics Include
- Constitutional threshold for K9 deployment under Graham v. Connor
- When courts treat K9 as deadly force — circuit splits and training implications
- "Find and bite" vs. "find and bark" policy debate and its litigation consequences
- Failure-to-call-off liability after compliance or surrender
- Appellate trends: extended bites, inadvertent deployment, bystander injuries
- Policy drafting: training documentation, use-of-force reporting, and after-action requirements
Afternoon Break │ 2:30 PM – 2:45 PM
The Million Dollar Report —
How Use-of-Force Documentation Wins and Loses Civil Cases
How Use-of-Force Documentation Wins and Loses Civil Cases
The officer report written in the first hour after a force incident is the single most important document in any subsequent civil or criminal proceeding. This session examines how force documentation is used, dissected, and weaponized in litigation — and what officers and supervisors must understand about the evidentiary weight of every word they write.
Topics Include
- The force report as litigation document: how plaintiff's counsel reads it, what they look for, and how they use it
- Inconsistency between the report and BWC footage: the single most damaging evidentiary problem in force litigation
- The supervisor's approval signature: what it means legally and why rubber-stamping creates independent liability
- Parallel use of the same report in criminal, administrative, and civil proceedings — and why language choices matter across all three
- Common documentation failures that turn defensible force into indefensible litigation
- What legally defensible documentation looks like: specificity, objectivity, and the language courts trust
- Report writing in the BWC era: how to write for the camera you know was running
Crowds, Protests, and Mass Arrests —
Use of Force in Civil Unrest Situations
Use of Force in Civil Unrest Situations
Managing force in a crowd is one of the most constitutionally complex situations in law enforcement. This session examines the full legal and operational framework for force in civil unrest situations — from the constitutional standards governing less-lethal munitions in crowd deployments, to the command accountability chain that determines who bears liability when things go wrong, to the policy language every agency must have before the next civil unrest event arrives.
Topics Include
- The constitutional framework for force in crowd situations — how Graham applies when the threat is diffuse and the scene is chaotic
- Less-lethal munitions in crowd control: the specific liability standards courts apply to mass deployment scenarios
- Mutual aid and unified command: who is legally responsible when officers from multiple agencies use force at the same event?
- The command accountability chain in civil unrest: how orders given at the incident command level become Monell evidence
- Dispersal orders, unlawful assembly declarations, and the First Amendment boundaries on force authorization
- Documentation in the chaos: after-action reporting requirements when individual force incidents cannot be individually attributed
- The Minnesota, Portland, and Seattle litigation: what the verdicts and settlements tell agencies about managing civil unrest
- Building a civil unrest use-of-force policy before the next event — what it must say and what it must not say
Open Q&A with All Faculty
Participants submit questions and comments to the full faculty panel. Each instructor responds from their area of expertise.
Day Three — Wednesday, July 15
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Seen and Unseen —
The Gap Between What Happened and What the Camera Captured, and Why It Determines the Outcome of Every Use-of-Force Case
The Gap Between What Happened and What the Camera Captured, and Why It Determines the Outcome of Every Use-of-Force Case
Every officer who has used force has experienced the moment when the video becomes the story and their account of what they perceived becomes secondary. This session examines why that happens, what the science tells us about the gap between officer perception and camera capture, and what agencies and officers must do before, during, and after a force incident to ensure their position is as defensible in the courtroom as it was on the street.
Topics Include
- What the BWC actually captures and what it structurally cannot — fixed angle, two-dimensional recording vs. the officer's full sensory and physiological experience
- The God's Eye Fallacy in force litigation: how juries treat BWC footage as a neutral, omniscient record and why that assumption is scientifically false
- The science of stress physiology and perception: tachypsychia, tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, and memory distortion
- The hindsight problem: how BWC footage structurally reintroduces the hindsight bias that Graham v. Connor was designed to exclude
- How plaintiff's counsel presents video evidence at trial: slow motion, freeze-frame, zoom, and the narrative strategies that exploit the God's Eye illusion
- Writing reports that capture perception, not just events: why the difference matters enormously in litigation
- Training implications: how agencies can build curricula that prepare officers to understand and articulate the perception-to-video gap
Break │ 9:30 AM – 9:45 AM
Duty to Intervene —
The Law, the Policy, and What It Actually Means When Your Partner Crosses the Line
The Law, the Policy, and What It Actually Means When Your Partner Crosses the Line
This is one of the most consequential and chronically undertrained legal obligations in American policing. Every federal circuit has recognized it. States are codifying it with criminal penalties. Officers are being federally prosecuted for it. Yet most agencies treat it as a paragraph in a policy manual rather than a skill that requires genuine training.
Topics Include
- The constitutional foundation: the three-element test every circuit applies — constitutional violation, officer awareness, and realistic opportunity to prevent it
- The rank irrelevance rule — why "it wasn't my call" is not a defense regardless of seniority, binding in Wisconsin under Byrd v. Brishke (7th Cir.)
- The scope question: does the duty extend beyond excessive force to false arrest, deprivation of medical care, and other constitutional violations
- The criminal dimension: federal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 242, the Kueng and Thao convictions, and the criminal threshold for failure to intervene
- State statutory liability: the Colorado model, criminal misdemeanor exposure, and the legislative trend spreading across the country
- The hard practical questions: how much time is enough, what intervention actually requires, and what happens if you intervene and the force turns out to have been justified
- The supervisor who directs the force: when command authority eliminates the duty-to-intervene defense — and when it does not
- Policy drafting: what a legally defensible duty-to-intervene policy must say and the common language that creates more problems than it solves
- Reporting obligations after intervention: the documentation requirements most agency policies have not addressed
- The organizational culture gap: the distance between what the policy says and what the actual agency culture permits — and how that gap becomes Monell evidence
- Barnes v. Felix and the duty to intervene: how the post-control force doctrine defines the window within which the intervention obligation operates
- Scenario workshop: the sudden kick, the prolonged restraint, the supervisor-directed force — applying the legal framework to decisions officers actually face
What's Coming —
Use-of-Force Issues Your Agency Needs to Be Preparing For Right Now
Use-of-Force Issues Your Agency Needs to Be Preparing For Right Now
The law never stops moving. This closing session looks around the corner — at the issues percolating in the lower courts, the legislative trends building in state capitals, and the operational developments that will generate the next generation of use-of-force litigation. Framed as a conversation, each issue is presented and opened to the room.
Key Issues
The Qualified Immunity Abolition Act — What Happens to Force Litigation if Federal QI Disappears
The legislative trajectory, state-level reforms already in motion, and what agencies should be building now regardless of how Congress acts.
Audience check: Has your agency begun preparing for a post-QI legal environment?
Artificial Intelligence and the Automation of Force Decisions — The Liability Vacuum No One Has Filled
Real-time crime centers directing tactical response, predictive tools informing deployment decisions, and algorithmic threat assessment feeding officer judgment.
Audience check: Is your agency using any AI-assisted tools that influence force decisions, and does your policy address them?
The Expanding Duty to Render Aid — Where Courts Are Pushing Post-Force Medical Care Obligations
The trajectory from a discretionary best practice to an enforceable constitutional requirement, and what the standard will look like in five years.
Audience check: Does your policy specify what medical response is required after every use of force, including minor applications?
Body-Worn Camera AI Analytics — When the Algorithm Flags Your Officer Before You Do
Real-time use-of-force detection, automated report generation, and the evidentiary and disciplinary implications of letting the platform make the first call.
Audience check: Is your agency using or considering AI-assisted BWC review tools, and who owns the findings?
The Next Generation of Less-Lethal Technology and the Constitutional Framework Courts Will Build Around It
Directed energy weapons, acoustic devices, autonomous deployment systems, and the liability landscape for technologies courts have not yet evaluated.
Audience check: What emerging less-lethal tools is your agency evaluating that your current policy does not address?
State Legislative Trends — The Jurisdictions Most Likely to Pass Significant Use-of-Force Reform in the Next Two Years
The specific bills moving through state legislatures right now, the reform models most likely to spread, and the practical policy implications for agencies watching the trend lines.
Audience check: Is your agency tracking state legislative developments that could change your use-of-force framework before your next policy review cycle?
Symposium Conclusion and Closing Remarks │ 12:00 PM
Meet the Instructors
Faculty
Brown County Sheriff Todd Delain
FBI National Academy Graduate
Sheriff Delain began his law enforcement career as a U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Special Agent, serving in the Persian Gulf War and Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. He joined the Brown County Sheriff's Office in 1996, serving in the Jail and Patrol Divisions, the Drug Task Force, and specialty units including SWAT and the Mobile Field Force. Elected Sheriff in 2018, he is a past President of the FBI National Academy Associates — Wisconsin Chapter.
Sam Hall, Esq.
Managing Partner, Crivello, Nichols & Hall, S.C.
Samuel C. Hall, Jr. is widely regarded as one of Wisconsin's leading attorneys in law enforcement civil rights litigation. He has successfully defended hundreds of law enforcement officers, agencies, and government officials in high-profile cases in Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, and beyond, with appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal circuits. Hall holds the top AV-Preeminent rating by Martindale-Hubbell and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America and Wisconsin Super Lawyers.
Chief Larry Gonzalez
Court-Recognized Use-of-Force Expert Witness │ Riverside PD
Chief Gonzalez is the 22nd Chief of Police of the Riverside (CA) Police Department, where he has served for more than 30 years. His command experience includes SWAT, K9, and Force Training Unit assignments. He has been an instructor at the Riverside County Sheriff's Academy for over 20 years, teaching use of force, defensive tactics, and civil liability, and is recognized as a Subject Matter Expert in police use of force in both state and federal court. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.
John G. Peters, Jr., Ph.D.
Expert Witness & Trainer
John G. Peters, Jr., Ph.D. is a nationally recognized trainer, researcher, and expert witness in law enforcement use of force, de-escalation, and officer-associated death. He has consulted with law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and defense counsel across the country. His work bridges the gap between the science of human performance under stress and the legal standards by which force decisions are evaluated.
A. David Berman, M.S.
Principal, Berman L.E. Group — Less-Lethal Specialist
A. David Berman, M.S. is the Principal of Berman L.E. Group, LLC, a national law enforcement training and consulting organization specializing in less-lethal weapons systems, use-of-force policy, and tactical training. He has trained law enforcement personnel domestically and internationally, including specialized units in corrections, SWAT, and patrol operations, and has extensive experience in use-of-force incident analysis and training program development.
Jeb Brown, Esq.
President, Shield Public Safety Training, Inc.
Jeb Brown is a retired Chief Assistant County Counsel for the County of Riverside, California, where he served as lead counsel on law enforcement matters from 2014 to 2021. Prior to that appointment, he spent 20 years as a Supervising Deputy City Attorney for the City of Riverside, serving as the Police Legal Advisor and primary legal counsel to the Riverside Police Department. He is the founder and president of Shield Public Safety Training, a national law enforcement education organization delivering advanced constitutional law training to chiefs, sheriffs, command staff, and agency counsel.
Pricing & Logistics
Registration & Amenities
Tuition
First Attendee
$695
Second Attendee
Same agency
$595
Save $100
Third Attendee
Same agency
$395
Save $300
🏛 Agency Team Package
$1,685
One invoice. Three seats. Send your patrol officers, command staff, supervisors, training officers — whoever your agency needs in the room. The more levels of your organization that share this training, the greater the institutional impact. Send three. Save $400.
What's Included with Every Registration
- Continental breakfast — all three days
- Lunch — Monday and Tuesday
- Private reception at Lambeau Field
- Comprehensive workbook & case law materials
- Certificate of completion
Venue
Tundra Lodge Resort, Waterpark & Convention Center
Green Bay, Wisconsin
865 Lombardi Ave │ Adjacent to Lambeau Field
Green Bay, Wisconsin
865 Lombardi Ave │ Adjacent to Lambeau Field
Hotel Accommodations
A room block has been reserved for symposium attendees at a special rate of $99.99 per night + applicable taxes and fees.
To reserve at the discounted rate, call the Tundra Lodge directly at (920) 405-8700 and mention the symposium.
To reserve at the discounted rate, call the Tundra Lodge directly at (920) 405-8700 and mention the symposium.
Welcome Reception
A private reception at Lambeau Field will be held for all registered attendees. This exclusive event is included with symposium registration.
Materials
Each attendee will receive a comprehensive electronic workbook covering all symposium modules, case law references, policy templates, supplemental materials, and certificate of completion.