Use of Force
Use of Force Is More Than a Legal Standard
Use-of-force incidents are evaluated through legal standards, but the decisions that produce those incidents are operational. Officers and correctional personnel must assess behavior, threat, resistance, available options, time, distance, environment, communication, tactical considerations, and rapidly changing circumstances.
After force is used, the analysis continues. Personnel must articulate what occurred, supervisors must meaningfully review the event, agencies must evaluate policy and training issues, and command staff must determine whether the incident reveals an individual problem or an organizational one.
Shield's approach connects the constitutional framework with the practical decisions made before, during, and after force.
What Agencies Need to Get Right
Constitutional Standards
Training should help personnel understand objective reasonableness, the totality of the circumstances, the perspective of the officer at the time, and why force must be evaluated without hindsight.
Threat, Resistance & Decision-Making
Force decisions require personnel to assess behavior, resistance, threat, environmental conditions, available options, subject actions, officer capabilities, and the consequences of delaying or changing tactics.
De-escalation & Tactical Considerations
De-escalation should be understood as operational decision-making. Training may address time, distance, communication, containment, repositioning, backup, tactical withdrawal, and when delay is or is not practical.
Force Articulation & Report Writing
Reports should explain what personnel perceived, what the subject did, why force became necessary, how force was applied, when it stopped, and what occurred afterward.
Medical Response & Post-Force Care
Responsibilities continue after resistance stops. Personnel should understand medical assessment, monitoring, injury response, positioning, restraint concerns, and changing medical conditions.
Supervisory Review
Supervisors should evaluate decision-making, policy, tactics, articulation, medical response, video and other evidence, consistency, and whether further review or corrective action is warranted.
Critical Incident Analysis
Significant force events can reveal issues involving tactics, staffing, policy, training, equipment, communication, supervision, documentation, or organizational practice.
Policy, Training & Organizational Risk
Agencies should evaluate whether policy reflects legal requirements and operational realities, whether personnel are trained to apply it, and whether review systems identify recurring problems.
The Quality of Force Review Matters
Supervisory force review is one of the most important—and often underdeveloped—parts of an agency's use-of-force system.
A supervisor should be able to determine whether the report adequately explains the event, whether force appears consistent with law and policy, whether video or other evidence requires follow-up, whether medical care was appropriate, and whether tactics, training, equipment, or supervision affected the outcome.
Good review also distinguishes between a lawful force event and a flawless one. An incident may be legally justified while still presenting opportunities for tactical, supervisory, or organizational improvement.
Use of Force in Law Enforcement & Corrections
Law Enforcement Use of Force
Field encounters may involve uncertain information, rapidly changing threats, arrest decisions, vehicles, weapons, bystanders, behavioral-health issues, communication barriers, multiple officers, and limited control over the environment.
- Patrol encounters
- Arrest and detention
- Weapon-related threats
- Behavioral-health encounters
- Team and multi-officer response
- Video and body-worn camera review
- Report writing and supervision
Corrections Use of Force
Correctional force occurs in a controlled but uniquely complex environment involving custody, housing, extraction, restraint, medical needs, behavioral-health concerns, close-quarter tactics, observation responsibilities, and continuing duty of care.
- Cell and housing-unit incidents
- Planned and spontaneous response
- Extraction and team tactics
- Restraint and restraint devices
- Medical monitoring
- Post-force observation
- Supervisory and command review
Built Around Your Policies, Personnel & Risk
Use-of-force training should reflect the agency's operational environment, policies, equipment, supervisory practices, training model, recurring incidents, and state-specific legal requirements where appropriate.
Shield can build programs for front-line personnel, supervisors, command staff, instructors, investigators, or a combination of audiences.
Use of Force Training FAQs
Does Shield provide use-of-force training for both police and corrections?
Can Shield train supervisors specifically on force review?
Can the training be customized around our agency's force policy?
Does the training include report writing?
Can Shield use video or case scenarios in the training?
Can multiple agencies host a regional program?
Better force decisions require more than knowing the rule.
Shield can help your personnel connect legal standards with decision-making, articulation, supervision, and meaningful force review.