Issue link: http://lawandordermag.epubxp.com/i/98779
SPECIAL REPORT By The Book It is never more important to do it by the book than when it really hits the fan. You owe it to yourself, your department and your community to know the book. The laws governing lethal force, and especially lesslethal force, frequently change. Spend time each week staying current. tive���s ego, with a healthy dose of embarrassment. Had the uniform police lieutenant not been present, essential evidence may have been recovered but would have been suppressed in court. Lesson One, court decisions can fundamentally change standard operating procedures. Lesson Two, police must stay up to date on court decisions, which can change procedures. Lesson Three, detectives are not immune from the requirement of career long learning / study. Of supreme importance, court decisions give us guidance on how to judge the use of both less-lethal force and, of course, deadly force. The 1985 Garner v. Tennessee case set guidelines that should be considered in the exercise of deadly force: Is there a threat of serious physical harm to offcers or others; if the suspect is feeing does the police offcer have probable cause to believe the suspect had been involved in an offense that caused or threatened serious bodily harm or death. 40 LAW and ORDER I December 2012 The 1989 Graham v. Connor case ruled offcers should consider the severity of the crime; if the suspect is an immediate threat; if the suspect is actively resisting arrest; if the suspect is attempting to evade arrest by fight. These court cases, stated here briefy, should be reviewed at length as a regular part of all offcers��� maintenance study in their obligation to which they took an oath. Legislators at the state, county or municipal level regularly change laws that directly affect the police. During my career I saw laws go from criminal violations to civil violations, like littering. New laws were enacted ��� like aggressive panhandling for example while others were rescinded, like vagrancy. Some involved changes in the elements of a crime (what actions had to take place in order for it to be a criminal offense) ��� disorderly conduct is one example. Other changes involved specifcally defning what was not a criminal offense, like obscenities directed at a police offcer. New laws changed felonies to misdemeanors for some drug offenses, while others changed misdemeanors to felonies ��� like carrying a pistol without a license. New laws also increased the list of probable cause misdemeanors (meaning the police offcer did not have to witness the misdemeanor offense and could make the arrest based on probable cause). Most police departments have some type of written directives, whether they are called general orders, police manual, or policies and procedures. These directives probably are regularly updated, changed, revised, rescinded, or replaced to continually keep police operations up to date. A police procedure manual is changed for any number of reasons, i.e., new technologies, political events, public demands, new tactics or strategies, new laws, court decisions, outcomes of civil litigation or administrative investigative fndings. Whatever the reason, their purpose is to see to it that police operations are ethical, professional, effective and legal. One of the more high-profle and perhaps controversial changes in some police departments��� policy is their vehicle pursuit guidelines. Some now only permit a vehicle pursuit in the case of a felony (in contrast to a traffc violation). Some go even further and only permit a vehicle pursuit in the case of a felony involving serious bodily injury or the threat of serious bodily injury. In all probability, these changes were well publicized and everyone informed. No books needed here? Offcers have to know which offenses are felonies. Further, you may have to know the elements of a crime to determine if it is a felony. In the District of Columbia Code; Threats in a Menacing Manner; Threats to do Bodily Harm; and Threatening to Injure a Person are similarly sounding offenses but only the latter is a felony. If you don���t know the elements of the crime, you can���t determine if it is a felony and whether a pursuit is authorized. Some departments require ���reasonable suspicion��� while others require ���probable cause��� in determining if a vehicle pursuit is justifed. Are you able to explain the differences and are you able to articulate what events led you to believe you had reached that level? Maybe a little time in the books is not a bad idea. Whatever you wish to call it or how you defne it, con-