DEADLY FORCE CAN KILL YOU! EVEN IF YOU LIVE AFTERWARDS!

Law Enforcement Officers have a variety of different techniques and tools to utilize when it comes to resolving any given situation. Most incidents will be resolved without any kind of use of force, some will involve minor of use of force utilized primarily for gaining control of and taking a suspect into custody that doesn’t necessarily want to comply, then of course there are those incidents of use of force that Internal Affairs have to investigate to clear everyone involved of any wrong doing. Finally, Law Enforcement Officers can utilized Deadly force to resolve specific types of incidents. 

Majority of the time when someone hears Deadly force they immediately think of an officer shooting someone, however this can come in the form of not only shooting, but use of the a patrol car to hit someone can be seen as Deadly force, the results of utilizing an extendable to baton to strike an assailant in a critical area can be seen as Deadly force, and even the use of certain techniques in hand to hand combat or defensive tactics can be seen as Deadly force. The point is, Deadly force can be interpreted many ways when it comes Law enforcement actions. 

All LEOs are trained in the use of Deadly force, specifically the differences between situations that warrant Deadly force and those that do not. Some of the obvious one; protecting the lives of other officers, stopping a serious threat that would result in the loss of life or serious bodily harm if left to continue, stopping a fleeing felon that is known to be armed and dangerous, etc. Some that are not; anything related to property, any incident that doesn’t involve the potential loss of life, any incident that isn’t of felonies nature unless exigent circumstances exist, etc.

If Deadly force is being used, all other less lethal options have been deemed not effective in resolving the threat or incident at hand. That being said, not all options have to be explored before getting to the use of Deadly force they just have to be explored as options and deemed not effective. 

The use of Deadly force isn’t taken lightly, all those involved will be investigated as well as the situation itself that the force was utilized in. The officer(s) involved are investigated for potential murder until they are cleared as being justified in their actions. No they will not be held in jail, however they will not be present in uniform as well….they will be home waiting for the results. 

The media will say their part as they always do, either damning the officers for his/her actions or raising them up as a hero…all depends on what would sway the influence for people to watch their broadcast. The Officer will be questioned, then questioned again, then questioned again, and then questioned again before a determination is made. The results can be a justified result, a preventable result, or an unjust result. 

Anything but justified is considered bad because it can also open the agency and the officer up to civil claims…aka lawsuits from the victim’s family. Once the officer is cleared of any wrong doing, they can return to full duty and continue on with their career. If they aren’t cleared they can be charged for Murder and eventually sent to prison. 

This is a very serious action and like I said it isn’t taken lightly when it occurs. However, it is something that happens and something that all officers wake up knowing everyday could happen to them. This is a smaller scale version of the process obviously, but even this expressed how serious the use of Deadly force can be.

Deadly Force Can Kill You! Even if Your Alive Afterward!