What is Use of Force? Geoffrey Alpert - 1 of 4

Well, I think it’s really important that agencies are able to manage their use of force protocols and not just policies. I think it’s really important for agencies to understand that the use of force in the community is one of the most damning areas for them that if they use it wrong or if it comes out wrong it ruins trust, it ruins confidence, it erodes the relationship between the police and the community. So it’s a really important thing that they need to understand. Now, that said, many times force is necessary and it isn’t the police officer for the most part who starts that process. Force really should be called “response to resistance” or some way to consider an attempt to take someone into control. Maybe “control and response to resistance” because for the most part it isn’t a police officer just going out and using force. It’s really trying to remove a threat and get someone under control. Now, I think it’s important to understand in terms of a policy, training, supervision and accountability. And each one of those is necessary but certainly not sufficient. You’ve got to have a very strong policy that’s well known through training, that is supervised by a manager, and the officer is held accountable for the type of behavior that he or she exhibits.