Police agencies have an obligation to train its police officers for the recurring tasks that officers will face during their career. Where it is foreseeable that a police officer will face a particular task that may result in harm to another person, the officer’s agency must provide training in how to conduct that task in a manner which is consistent with generally accepted practices in law enforcement. What is “generally accepted” is defined by the law enforcement profession and by court decisions analyzing police conduct. Training serves as a means toward high-level performance by police officers. Training is an input [...]

On a daily basis police officers have contacts with citizens that are consensual and thus do not implicate the Fourth Amendment. These contacts do not require the police to have any level of suspicion to justify the contact. Since police do not justify the stop based on some level of suspicion, the police have no authority to force a non-willing citizen to participate in the contact. As long as the citizen voluntarily remains and speaks with the officer, the contact remains consensual. If the officer, by words or conduct, implies that the citizen has no choice but to participate then [...]

On May 8, 2003 the United States Court of Appeal for the 8th Circuit joined a number of other sister circuits in deciding that a warning prior to the use of a police canine is an essential component of the reasonableness inquiry on use of force. Kuha v. City of Minnetonka, No. 02-1081 (8th Cir. 2003). On September 22, 1999, Kuha went out drinking with some friends. On his way home he ran into a curb causing a flat tire. He walked to a friend’s house for help and returned with his friend to change the tire. Kuha continued his [...]

While police officers may believe that they will be exposed to liability for all of their actions, both proper and improper, the fact of the matter is that most courts have avoided second-guessing police actions and have only sanctioned the most egregious conduct. There are various levels of liability that may exist when an officer’s actions are deemed improper. The purpose of this section is to provide a brief overview of the possible actions that may result from alleged police misconduct. Civil Actions Intentional Torts: An intentional tort would occur when an officer, without justification, intentionally commits an act which is [...]

Most discussions on law enforcement’s use of deadly force focuses on those circumstances where an officer is faced with an imminent threat of serious bodily harm or death to him or herself or some third party who is present at the scene of some law enforcement event. Little time is usually spent on discussing when an officer may use deadly force to prevent a suspect’s escape. A recent case, Mason v. Horan 2003 WL 22000316 (9th Cir. 2003) from the United States Court of Appeal for the 9th Circuit reiterated the rule announced in Tennessee v. Garner. Danny Mason, the [...]

Samuels v. Cunningham et al., 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14479 (Dist. Del. 2003) Jones v. City of Hartford, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17340 (Dist. CT. 2003) How should an officer react when he or she observes a colleague commit an act of excessive force in his or her presence? It is a basic principle of supervisory responsibility that supervisors must intervene into subordinate officers conduct, but what about officers of equal rank? Two recent cases make clear that officers who have an opportunity to intervene in an excessive use of force must do so, or risk personal liability for a [...]