City of OKC

Recommendation No. 3:

OKCPD should revise Use of Force policy to include levels of reporting/review based on severity of use of force.

By broadly categorizing uses of force, the department can ensure that appropriate resources are directed to critically reporting and reviewing each use of force incident.

Project Status: 80% Implemented

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Project Details from Consultant Report

This structure approximates the Type (or Level) I, II, III distinctions drawn by many departments, and there is no apparent need for the OKCPD to draft this policy from scratch. Federal Consent Decrees with the United States Department of Justice have commonly structured the categorization of use of force into levels of force, which helps ensure that proper levels of reporting and review occur depending on the severity of the use of force. Some examples include:

• Cleveland Division of Police
• Level 1 Use of Force:
• Using techniques that cause Temporary Pain or disorientation as a means of gaining compliance, hand control or escort techniques (e.g., elbow grip, wrist grip, or shoulder grip), and pressure point compliance techniques. Force under this category is not reasonably expected to cause injury,
• Level 2 Use of Force:
• Force that causes an injury, could reasonably be expected to cause an injury, or results in a complaint of an injury, but does not rise to the level of a Level 3 use of force. Level 2 includes the use of a CEW, including where a CEW is fired at a subject but misses; OC Spray application; weaponless defense techniques (e.g., elbow or closed-fist strikes, kicks, leg sweeps, and takedowns); use of an impact weapon, except for a strike to the head, neck or face with an impact weapon; and any canine apprehension that involves contact.
• Level 3 Use of Force:
• Force that includes uses of deadly force; uses of force resulting in death or serious physical harm; uses of force resulting in hospital admission due to a use of force injury; all neck holds; uses of force resulting in a loss of consciousness; canine bite; more than three applications of a CEW on an individual during a single interaction, regardless of the mode or duration of the application, and regardless of whether the applications are by the same or different officers; a CEW application for longer than 15 seconds, whether continuous or consecutive; and any Level 2 use of force against a handcuffed subject.

• Baltimore Police Department
• Level 1 Use of Force — Includes:
• Using techniques that cause Temporary Pain or disorientation as a means of gaining compliance, hand control or escort techniques (e.g., elbow grip, wrist grip, or shoulder grip), and pressure point compliance techniques. Force under this category is not reasonably expected to cause injury,
• Pointing a firearm, Less-Lethal Launcher, or CEW at a person,
• “Displaying the arc” with a CEW as a form of warning, and
• Forcible takedowns that do not result in actual injury or complaint of injury.
• Level 2 Use of Force — Includes:
• Force that causes or could reasonably be expected to cause an injury greater than Temporary Pain or the use of weapons or techniques listed below — provided they do not otherwise rise to a Level 3 Use of Force:
• Discharge of a CEW in Drive-Stun or Probes Deployment, in the direction of a person, including where a CEW is fired at a person but misses,
• Use of OC spray or other Chemical Agents,
• Weaponless defense techniques including, but not limited to, elbow or closed fist strikes, open hand strikes, and kicks,
• Discharge of a Less-Lethal Launcher/Munitions in the direction of a person,
• Canine-inflicted injuries that do not rise to a Level 3 Use of Force,
• Non-weapon strikes to the head, neck, sternum, spine, groin, or kidney area, and
• Striking of a person or a vehicle with a vehicle that does not rise to Level 3 Use of Force.
• Level 3 Use of Force — Includes:
• Strikes to the head, neck, sternum, spine, groin, or kidney area with an impact weapon,
• Firearm discharges by a BPD member,
• Use of OC spray or other Chemical Agents,
• Applications of more than three (3) CEW cycles in a single encounter, regardless of the mode or duration of the application, and regardless of whether the applications are by the same or different members,
• CEW application for longer than 15 seconds whether the application is a single continuous application or from multiple applications,
• Uses of Force resulting in death, Serious Physical Injury, loss of consciousness, or requiring hospitalization, and
• Uses of Deadly Force/Lethal Force.