Chief's Counsel: Constant Constrictive Pressures to Avoid or Reduce Use of Force and the Quagmire of So-Called Best Practices

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Chief’s Counsel: Constant Constrictive Pressures to Avoid or Reduce Use of Force and the Quagmire of So-Called Best Practices

Michael Brave, President, LAAW International LLC, Scottsdale, Arizona

Police officers and their agencies are under constantly constricting pressures to avoid or reduce their uses of force. These pressures come through increasingly more restrictive court decisions interpreting U.S. constitutional and state force standards, criminal prosecutions of officers, restrictive agency policies and training, plaintiffs’ lawsuits, special interest groups’ criticisms, and published so-called best practices by government agencies and private consulting groups.