Page 43 - Oct Nov 2017

What The Fire Service Can Teach Us About The Use of Force,

can be a third party as we have this answer before Continuum. For those of

employ using force to pro- there is an incident. For us directly involved in the
tect another. It can even be this we look at life over public safety profession,
the aggressor if we are us- property. Most, if not all, including private security,

P ing force to prevent them state statutes will deal ex- it’s proper and fitting that
O from hurting themselves clusively with force being we briefly cover the levels

L or others justified when harm is re- or steps involved in the
I lated to a living person not escalation of using force.
C The last element that most in defense of property. For To put this in perspective,

E state statutes will address this reason law enforce- we have to appreciate law
is harm. The use of force ment officers and security enforcement’s standard in

B is generally legal when professionals can’t shoot the implementation of the
R harm is either imminent or fleeing shoplifters or cars use of force. Keep in mind
U being committed. Physi- leaving the scene in many the continuum does not

T cal force may be matched cases unless there are apply to private citizens
A with the equal or lesser extenuating circumstances (outside of security pro-

L physical force or harm. and even then must be fessionals).
I However, take the element justified.
T of harm away and the use Law Enforcement Use of

Y of force usually stops be- By thinking of the use of Force Continuum:
ing justified. force as a triangle, we can

begin to see what causes * Officer’s presence in
We often hear the terms these incidents to occur uniform:
“reasonable” and “un- and to escalate. Use of

reasonable” (usually in force in private security * Highly visible as a de-
court settings) when we is always reactive, but it’s terrent to crime.

hear of use of force inci- important to see who and * Officer’s attitudes and
dents. There will be a lot what we are reacting to. demeanor are professional
of people trying to figure We can’t afford to blame and non-threatening.

out what kind of force ourselves every time we
is reasonable after there use force because there * Verbalization – force is

has been an incident with will be plenty of others not physical:
investigators and juries looking to do that for us.
contemplating every avail- However, we can take * Officers issue calm, non-

able detail to make a de- a step back and be well threatening commands,
termination. The key is to versed in the Use of Force such as “Let me see your

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