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Excessive Force

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Unclearly Established Law: When Courts Ignore the Experts

Within hours of publishing The 21-foot “Rule” is Back in the News, readers started asking us to look at Wilson v. Prince George’s County, Maryland.1  Apparently, this 4th Circuit Court of Appeals case has inspired policy revisions, training updates, and questions as to the relevance of the 21-foot principle.  I read the case and immediately...
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Should Failure To Record Equate With Excessive Force? A Court Speaks

The problem of officers failing to activate recording equipment before or during a force encounter can be a thorny one with multiple potentially negative consequences. But a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit has tried to push the issue to a new and radical extreme. The incident in question began in the snowy, predawn hours of...
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2 New Use Of Force Court Decisions Offer Valuable “Learning Points”

Two recent federal appellate decisions are good reminders of how US judges may assess claims of excessive force where unarmed suspects are involved. Atty. Michael Brave, always a popular legal updater at ILEETA conferences and other venues, tells Force Science News that these cases “have many learning points” for trainers, police attorneys, and street officers...
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New Study Reveals Facts Of Police-Related Deaths Of Unarmed Subjects

A new study of unarmed individuals who have died this year in confrontations with police reveals illuminating details typically surrounding these events and tends to refute the activist narrative that trigger-happy officers with deadly intent are rampantly targeting black males. After analyzing 125 cases that could be found in which unarmed civilians in the US...
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Appeals Court Favors Videos To Resolve “Disputes Of Fact”

In a recent decision, federal appellate justices gave special weight to dash-cam recordings in determining whether officers accused of excessive force are entitled to immunity from a civil rights lawsuit. The case involved two Michigan sheriff’s deputies who were denied a summary judgment exonerating them of wrongdoing by a district court judge who ruled that...
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Does Your Agency Reflect These Use Of Force Trends?

A new use-of-force survey reveals that the use of batons as control or striking weapons is fading out, ground fighting warrants greater emphasis in training, and despite the hyperbolic media coverage of late most arrests are effected with verbal communication alone, with deadly force by police an extreme rarity. These and other findings about the...
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Success Story: Cops 2, Plaintiffs 0 In Excessive Force Lawsuits

Part of a periodic series Sgt. Thomas Ovens, an officer in the state of Washington, had scarcely hung up his diploma from the Force Science Certification Course when, in quick succession, he was called on to help defend two major lawsuits against police. In one case, officers with a large department in Eastern Washington shot...
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Supreme Court OKs Deadly Force To Stop Dangerous Pursuit

A new Supreme Court decision has been added to the ongoing controversy in law enforcement circles about whether officers should be permitted by policy to shoot at moving vehicles. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that officers were justified in firing fatal rounds at a driver to end a dangerous high-speed chase. Further, the...
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Researchers Want ER Docs To Focus More On “Excessive” Force Claims

A newly published study that calls for ER doctors to give more attention to complaints from injured suspects about “excessive force” and “police brutality” has been published in a prominent medical journal. The authors, citing concerns by the ACLU and the World Health Organization about unnecessarily violent police behavior, argue that prisoners’ injuries should be...
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New Study: Courts Recognizing Stress Effects In Excessive Force Litigation

A new study clearly documents a “significant and important” trend in federal courts to consider the physiological and psychological impact of stress on officer performance in cases alleging excessive force and inadequate training. “This finding,” says Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Institute, “is very encouraging to those of us who have...
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