Use of Force Reporting

[Tankus]

we also have to complete a use of force report.....

they are to be completed EVERY time a person in placed in cuffs, or been subjected to OC, baton or any other form of force including hand to hand. every time we draw our firearm we also need to complete one.

they are forwarded to the shift supervisor (sergeant) and also to our tactical training guys. they read the narrative of what happened and then convert that into scenarios for the recruits in the academy......what better way to teach the new guys than "real life" situations that actually happen!!

[gdowkpc]

Bulls**t. If you believe that,I've got some beachfront property in Arizona I'll sell you.

You're not selling me any property. We all know it's BS. It's got our name right at the bottom of each report. Even if they didn't actively track now, they could easily in the future.

[gdowkpc]

What dept here in AZ? We have a check box for OC or baton and another form for tasing someone. Not a whole lot beyond that.

He's from a major city and I can't remember which one off hand...Phoenix, Tucson?

[gdowkpc]

We have always had one. It is not necessary to use it for handcuffing or drawing/pointing our weapons. NOr is it necessary for diversionary devices.

It is required when we discharge a weapon for any reason (off a firing range), use of less lethals (baton or impact munitions, OC, CS grenades, Taser, etc) and using physical force. Soft hands and control techniques are rarely documented on this form. The only time I have seen the use of force documented for a hands-on situation is for those instances when hospital visits were required afterwards.

This is acceptable. Any manuever that is capable of causing significant injury, or any manuever that does cause significant injury should be reported on the form. It's idiotic to report cooperative handcuffing, especially when it's routinely written in a report, anyways.

[gdowkpc]

we also have to complete a use of force report.....

they are to be completed EVERY time a person in placed in cuffs, or been subjected to OC, baton or any other form of force including hand to hand. every time we draw our firearm we also need to complete one.

they are forwarded to the shift supervisor (sergeant) and also to our tactical training guys. they read the narrative of what happened and then convert that into scenarios for the recruits in the academy......what better way to teach the new guys than "real life" situations that actually happen!!

You don't need to document EVERY situation to draw scenarios. ALL of our training scenarios are based on true life events. If you have training officers who have spent any time in the field, they themsleves should have plenty of experience to draw from. And, any strange and crazy events could always be forwarded to them.

Like one officer was saying, officers here are fearing the report more than the resistance or potential danger of the suspect. Suspects are being tranported without cuffs, searrched without control holds, and uncompliant subjects removed from automobiles with holstered guns.

As time goes on, will officers relax and just fill out the reports, or will they figure out more clever ways to avoid filling out the reports? It has been my experience that the latter is true....ever since they required a Special Report everytime we handcuffed someone, even if they were never arrested. People are handcuffed far less, and is a greater danger to the officer.

Each officer is ultimately responsible for his safety and the safety of the officers and public around him, we understand that. We all know when we do not use the amount of force that we have been trained to use, we put ourselves at greater risk. This form is unlikely to go away.

However, the union complained and complained that officers would tend to place themselves in greater danger to avoid the report. The brass said that officers would be too smart for that. I guess they were wrong.