Use of Force, Restraint and Arrest Procedures
This domain tests proportionality: when force is lawful, how much is permitted, and what must happen afterwards.
Core rules
- Citizen's arrest (Rule 113, Section 5): a private person may arrest without warrant when an offence has just been committed in their presence and they have personal knowledge of facts indicating guilt, or when the person is an escaped prisoner. Deliver the person to the nearest police station without unnecessary delay.
- Force test: necessity, proportionality and reasonable belief of threat. The continuum runs presence → verbal → soft empty hand → hard empty hand → less-lethal → lethal; move only as far as the threat requires.
- After force: restrain with approved devices, check for injury, render first aid, call police and ambulance, separate witnesses, preserve CCTV, write the report and notify the agency.
- Prohibited: punishment, coercion, chokeholds held after control, tying to fixtures for long periods, searching without a lawful arrest, interrogating a suspect.
Worked example
A drunk customer punches a waiter and advances on staff. Reasoning: defence of a stranger and of yourself; the threat is active but unarmed. Use verbal commands, then a controlled hold with backup, handcuff to the rear if trained, seat him, check injuries, call police and ambulance, and hand over with a written account. Do not strike once control is achieved.
Traps
Using force to recover property or 'teach a lesson'; searching a detainee without arrest; holding a suspect for the client instead of police; writing the report from memory days later.