Use of Force and Defensive Tactics
This domain tests whether you can apply the objective-reasonableness standard from Graham v. Connor, apply Tennessee v. Garner to fleeing suspects, and follow MPD policy on de-escalation, reporting, intervention, and medical care.
The constitutional floor
Graham asks whether a reasonable officer on the scene, judged from the moment force was used without 20/20 hindsight, would find the force objectively reasonable. The three named factors are the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to officers or others, and whether the suspect is actively resisting or attempting to evade arrest by flight. Garner permits deadly force against a fleeing suspect only where the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury.
Policy above the floor
- Necessary and proportional: MPD policy requires force be both necessary to accomplish a lawful objective and proportional to the threat; force must be de-escalated as resistance drops.
- Deadly force: limited to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury, or a narrow fleeing-felon circumstance; warning shots are prohibited.
- Chokeholds and carotid restraints: prohibited under the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act.
- Duty to intervene: officers must intervene when they observe excessive force and must report it - failure is independently disciplinable.
- Duty to render aid: medical care follows force; positional asphyxia precautions apply once a subject is restrained.
- Documentation: force must be reported at the policy threshold, supervisors notified, body-worn camera activated, and a Use of Force Report completed.
Worked example
A man holds a knife at his side, 25 feet from officers, refusing commands but not advancing. Deadly force now? No. Distance, cover, containment, time, less-lethal options, and de-escalation make force neither necessary nor proportional at that instant. If he closes the distance rapidly while refusing commands, the threat and the time available change, and the analysis shifts with the facts. The report must describe each decision point, not just the final shot.
Traps
Applying Graham only to shootings; describing force as reasonable because the arrest was lawful; forgetting the post-force medical and positional-asphyxia duties; staying silent about a colleague's excessive force; confusing a passive resister with an active threat.