Читать книгу Force Decisions. A Citizen's Guide to Understanding How Police Determine Appropriate Use of Force онлайн

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Those are high-stakes decisions. Imagine dropping a piece of toast. Before it hits the ground, you have to decide if it will land with the butter side up or down, and you must do something before it hits…and the action you should take is based on which way it will hit.

Same speed, same amount of information. The stakes are just higher—take a chance on being injured or take a chance on hurting someone who just may be a scared kid trying to get away.

This is the standard that officers are often held to by the media and some civilians. It is beyond human ability in speed and analysis.

In order to protect the rights of others, officers are authorized and sometimes required to use force.

Active resistance is whenever the threat uses physical force to prevent the officer from doing the job. Running away is active resistance. Hanging on to a door jamb or a steering wheel to prevent being taken into custody is active resistance. Pulling away as an officer tries to apply handcuffs is active resistance; however, pulling away is also exactly what a threat who has decided to attack the officer might do and is often met with an appropriately higher level of force.