Use of Force and Defensive Tactics
What this domain tests
Objective reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment, the narrow conditions for deadly force, and the duties that continue after force ends. Expect scenario questions with shifting facts.
Core rules
- Graham v. Connor factors: severity of the crime, immediate threat to officers or others, and active resistance or flight. Reasonableness is judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on scene, without the 20/20 vision of hindsight.
- Deadly force: permitted only when the officer has probable cause to believe the subject poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury (Tennessee v. Garner). Vehicle ramming as deadly force follows Scott v. Harris and Plumhoff v. Rickard.
- Pretrial detainees: objective standard under Kingsley v. Hendrickson.
- Kentucky statutes: KRS 503.050 governs self-defense; KRS 503.090 permits force to effect arrest, but deadly force is tightly limited to situations involving a felony threat of serious physical injury or flight from such an offense.
- Continuing duties: intervene to stop another officer's excessive force, render medical aid, monitor a prone subject, and watch for positional asphyxia after electronic control weapon deployment.
Worked example
A subject stands twenty feet away holding a knife, refusing commands, and advancing. Distance, weapon type, barriers, cover, and the presence of bystanders all matter. Yelling stop is not a plan. If the subject closes distance while the officer has cover and backup, a reasonable officer may still have time for de-escalation; if the subject charges past available cover, the threat analysis tightens fast. Articulate the facts you perceived, not the conclusion you drew.
Traps
- Justifying force because the person resisted at any point.
- Judging the decision by the outcome rather than the information available at the moment.
- Omitting the duty to intervene and to summon aid.
- Leaving a handcuffed subject face-down and unmonitored.