Justifiable Police Force

improperly? As this is not an exact list of questions asked, these will be used to represent the use of force used by a police officer for the purpose of this paper. The most important decision an officer must make before using force to apprehend a suspect is the force that they are about to use justifiable? As stated in 609.06 in the Minnesota state statutes an officer may use force, “When used by a public officer or one assisting a public officer under the public officer's direction, in effecting a lawful arrest, in the execution of legal process, in enforcing an order of the court, or in executing any other duty imposed upon the public officer by law” (“609.06 - 2016Minnesota Statutes,” 2016). The use of force will only be justified when
used when it is necessary to be used while making a valid arrest, detain a suspect of a crime, or to protect another police officer or any other person from great bodily harm or death. In the year 1995 Attorney general Janet Reno made a policy that would apply to all law enforcement officers in the united states. The policy stated that a police officer may only use deadly force when the officer reasonably believes that the suspect is an imminent danger of death or may cause great bodily harm to the officer or another person (Hall, 1996). The state of Minnesota has its own use of deadly force statute stating an officer may use deadly force to “protect the peace officer or another from apparent death or great bodily harm, to effect the arrest or capture, or prevent the escape, of a person whom the peace officer knows or has reasonable grounds to believe, has committed or attempted to commit a felony involving the use or threatened use of deadly force, or if the officer knows or has reasonable grounds to believe has committed or attempted to commit a felony if the officer reasonably believes that the person will cause death or great bodily harm if the person's apprehension is delayed.” (“609.066 - 2016Minnesota Statutes,” 2016).
The force used by a police officer cannot be more than what a reasonable person would say is necessary to make a valid arrest, detain a suspect, or to protect another police officer or another person. Once the officer has decided that the use of force is necessary for the above situations the officer will have to use a force option that is reasonable from the use of force continuum. The use of force continuum is as follows: officer presence, verbal commands, hands-on techniques, impact weapons such as baton Taser or OC spray, and finally deadly force is at the very top of the continuum. Many departments do not call it the “use of force continuum” anymore they have changed out the word continuum with the word options. This is because the word continuum implies that the officer must always start at the lowest option on the continuum and work up until the suspect/arrestee has stopped what they are doing and comply with your commands. For example, it is irrational for the officer to start at the bottom of the continuum with presence, then
move to verbal commands and so on if a suspect is trying to cause the officer great bodily harm or death.
The term “use of force options” allows the officer to make the decision to instantly use the option that is best for the particular situation they are in. training is key
for officers to know when it is appropriate to use force and what option is best for any different situation. This can only be accomplished by use of force training that is mandatory for officers to attend and the department must have a clear policy when it comes to the use of force and when it is allowed, the department is responsible for making sure each officer knows the policy and it is clear to them. Officers must be properly trained on how to assess any threat presented to them, as well as how they should properly counter that threat. Multiple different scenarios must be trained to the police officers using all of the different use of force options. The officers must be confident using each use of force option and also know when each option should be used. In scenarios that involve the use of deadly force, simunition rounds can be used instead of real bullets to simulate actually shooting your gun. The use of simunition