Use of Force Policy

Upper Providence Twp Police Dept Use of Force Information

In performance of their duty, police officers are at times confronted with situations where, in order to protect the public safety, control must be exercised to affect arrests, overcome active physical resistance, and neutralize assaults.  Control may be achieved through verbal discussion, persuasion and warnings, or by the use of physical force.  Obviously, there are varying degrees of force that may be justified, depending upon the dynamics of the situations.  The use of the various levels of control against active resistance in physical force should be viewed as lying along a continuum; a continuum along which the use of force escalates only when each lower level of force has been examined or discarded as impractical in the current circumstance, or which has been tried and has failed in the encounter. It should be noted that this analysis might not involve lengthy deliberations.  Due to the urgency often inherent in such situations, the decision to escalate the use of force may be nearly instantaneous.

In order to provide employees with a clear understanding of their performance expectations while affecting the components of the use of force continuum, this general order is established.  In addition, this order details departmentally authorized weapons, training in their use, and reporting requirements when the use of force continuum is asserted as a result of physical resistance and/or assaultive behavior.