Community disturbances resulting from the police use of excessive or deadly force continue to plague many American communities. Law enforcement is an important societal function and its effectiveness is hampered when tensions exist between the police department and the public it serves.

Over and over, one thing we have learned, is that good policing practices are essential to developing community support. Other elements include trust...

Community disturbances resulting from the police use of excessive or deadly force continue to plague many American communities. Law enforcement is an important societal function and its effectiveness is hampered when tensions exist between the police department and the public it serves.

Over and over, one thing we have learned, is that good policing practices are essential to developing community support. Other elements include trust and confidence in the administration of justice. With this foundation, the prospect of successfully dealing with the potential for violent disturbances in the community is greatly enhanced. Moreover, a healthy relationship between the police and the community diminishes the prospect of the police using excessive force at all.
The power of conciliation to produce a mutually desirable outcome in even the most difficult circumstances is well established. Conciliation brings opposing parties together to hear each other's point of view and to find common ground. Because the parties may never have engaged in such a dialogue, the act of coming together may itself help to ease tensions and reduce misunderstandings. When conciliation produces a lasting solution to troubled police-minority relations, everyone benefits - aggrieved minority residents, the police, and the entire community. If conciliation efforts fall short, on the other hand, neither the police department nor minority community will have lost their options to pursue other courses of action available to them.

A conciliation effort requires that the police department and minority community look at their overall relationship. While a single issue, such as the department's firearms policy, may be the immediate cause of such a dialogue, no single issue exists in isolation from other departmental policies and practices. Minority leaders and the police chief, preferably with the support of city officials, have to approach each other with the willingness to pursue actions that offer the prospect of creating constructive change in the entire police-minority relationship. In the following pages actions are proposed for police departments and community organizations to break down the barriers to good relations and to deal constructively with the issues surrounding disputes of police officer use of excessive force.

The two most important things are to have a written policy. That way everybody can see and evaluate whether it was use correctly.
And to have education and training for the officers. They must be able to make quick decisions accurately.

Policies that are rigorously enforced are essential for what the police do, and how they do it. It's not just "how the vehicle operates" it's "how the vehicle is operated"!...

Policies that are rigorously enforced are essential for what the police do, and how they do it. It's not just "how the vehicle operates" it's "how the vehicle is operated"!as for what are the policies regarding "use of force"... Each jurisdiction is different and one must know where they live to know what can be or cannot be applied.

Every law enforcement agency utilizes a use of force "continuum." This is often depicted in a chart and outlines the progressive techniques (generally ranging from "command presence" to "deadly force") that can be used to dissuade another party from a particular course of action or physically intervene to stop them.

How important are they? The importance of these policies cannot be over-em...

Every law enforcement agency utilizes a use of force "continuum." This is often depicted in a chart and outlines the progressive techniques (generally ranging from "command presence" to "deadly force") that can be used to dissuade another party from a particular course of action or physically intervene to stop them.

How important are they? The importance of these policies cannot be over-emphasized. I think the previous answer from Richard more than adequately addressed this point.

In this time of day, the importance of Policies on the Use of Force in LE are very important. Each Policy is different in every agency and every state.