Use of Force – Page 2

Document Category: Use of Force

1-16.000 – DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE POLICY ON USE OF FORCE

It is the policy of the Department of Justice to value and preserve human life. Officers may use only the force that is objectively reasonable to effectively gain control of an incident, while protecting the safety of the officer and others, in keeping with the standards set forth in Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989). Officers may use force only when no reasonably effective, safe, and feasible alternative appears to exist and may use only the level of force that a reasonable officer on the scene would use under the same or similar circumstances.

CDCR Adopted Regulations NCR 21-03

(CDCR) policy governing the use of force. The policy has its foundation in California Penal. Code statutes and relevant case decisions.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE POLICY ON USE OF FORCE Adopted May 20, 2022

Attached is the Justice Department’s updated use-of-force policy. This policy has been crafted in consultation with, and has been approved by, the heads ofthe ATF, DEA, FBI, and USMS. With these updates, our Department-wide policy is now more in line with the training and best practices you use every day. Our policy was last updated in 2004 –eighteen years ago. In the time since, you have all spent countless hours training to the highest standards of law enforcement.

Use of Force

Projects regarding data collection established by the Bureau of Justice Statistics

National Use-of-Force Data Collection

The FBI created the National Use of Force Data Collection in 2015, in partnership with law enforcement agencies, to provide nationwide statistics on law enforcement use-of-force incidents.

Use of Force Data and Transparency

The database can be navigated by using state and subtopic filters. Text searching is available for statutory summaries or statutory language contained in the database. The map is also interactive and allows you to more quickly select multiple states to review―just hold down the control key to select more than one state. Use the reset button at the top left to clear all filters and start a new search.