At a November 2020 press conferenceat the Bucks County Justice Center, then-District Attorney, now Common Pleas Court Judge Matt Weintraub, stood with law enforcement representing local police departments to announce they would all be following the same 15 guidelines when force was used.
The promise represented the first time law enforcement countywide would formally work under the same set of voluntary guidelines.
The county's police chiefs developed the use-of-force guidelines following the May 2020 police custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which led to nationwide social unrest and calls for police reforms.
“The key to public safety, in my opinion, is transparency and communication of our police policies," Weintraub said at the event.
"This way the public’s expectation on police permissible use of force will match its perception."
Here are the standards, which have come into focus recently:
What are the use of force standards Bucks County police promised to follow
- Personnel will apply de-escalation techniques when possible and shall only use reasonable force to accomplish lawful objectives.
- Personnel has the duty to intervene when unreasonable force is being used.
- Deadly force may only be used when an officer reasonably believes the action is in defense of any human life in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury. Definitions of conditional terms, such as those for reasonable belief, serious physical injury, or similar terms used to qualify the directive, shall be included and reviewed during annual in-service training.
- “Warning Shots” shall be prohibited. Discharging of firearms at a moving vehicle or from a moving vehicle is generally prohibited.
- A mandate regarding the use of authorized less lethal weapons by agency personnel when appropriate.
- Appropriate medical aid shall be rendered as quickly as reasonably possible following any law enforcement action in which injuries have been sustained, and procedures should be adopted for activating the emergency medical system when obvious severe injuries have occurred, medical distress is apparent, or the individual is unconscious.
- Prohibition on the use of any technique restricting the intake of oxygen for the purpose of gaining control of a subject unless deadly force is reasonably necessary.
- A written report shall be submitted whenever an employee takes any of the following actions: discharges a firearm for reasons other than training, recreational purposes, or animal destruction; takes an action that results in or is alleged to have resulted in injury or death of another person; applies force through the use of lethal or less lethal weapons; or applies weaponless physical force at a level as defined by the agency; draws their firearm and holds an individual “at gunpoint.”
- The agency shall develop a written procedure for the administrative review of each use of force report.
- A requirement that any employee whose action(s) or use of force in an official capacity results in death or serious physical injury shall be removed from operational assignments, pending an administrative review and subject to a mental health evaluation.
- The agency shall regularly conduct an analysis of its use of force activities, policies and practices. The analysis shall identify: Date and time of incidents; types of encounters resulting in use of force; trends or patterns related to race, age and gender of subjects involved; trends or patterns resulting in injury to any person including employees; and impact of findings on policies, practices, equipment, and training.
- A requirement that only agency personnel demonstrating proficiency in the use of agency-authorized weapons shall be approved to carry such weapons.
- At least annually, all agency personnel authorized to carry weapons are required to receive in-service training on the agency's use of force policies, de-escalation and duty to intervene and demonstrate proficiency with all approved lethal weapons and electronic controlled weapons that the employee is authorized to use. In-service training for other less lethal weapons and
- weaponless control techniques shall occur according to Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission standards at least annually.
- A requirement that all agency personnel authorized to carry lethal and less lethal weapons receive all use of force policies and related instruction before authorization to carry a weapon. Policy receipt and curriculum delivery must be documented.
- A requirement that only weapons and ammunition approved and authorized by the agency shall be carried and/or used by its sworn personnel. This directive shall apply to both on and off duty weapons, as well as ammunition.
Crime and Courts Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: What are use of force standards Bucks County police promised to follow
