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New Brighton Department of Public Safety <br />Law Enforcement Policy Manual <br />Use of Force <br />300.3 USE OF FORCE <br />Officers shall use only that amount of force that reasonably appears necessary given the facts <br />and circumstances perceived by the officer at the time of the event to accomplish a legitimate law <br />enforcement purpose. <br />The reasonableness of force will be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the <br />scene at the time of the incident. Any evaluation of reasonableness must allow for the fact that <br />officers are often forced to make split-second decisions about the amount of force that reasonably <br />appears necessary in a particular situation, with limited information and in circumstances that are <br />tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving. <br />Given that no policy can realistically predict every possible situation an officer might encounter, <br />officers are entrusted to use well -reasoned discretion in determining the appropriate use of force <br />in each incident. <br />It is also recognized that circumstances may arise in which officers reasonably believe that it <br />would be impractical or ineffective to use any of the tools, weapons or methods provided by the <br />Department. Officers may find it more effective or reasonable to improvise their response to rapidly <br />unfolding conditions that they are confronting. In such circumstances, the use of any improvised <br />device or method must nonetheless be reasonable and utilized only to the degree that reasonably <br />appears necessary to accomplish a legitimate law enforcement purpose. <br />While the ultimate objective of every law enforcement encounter is to avoid or minimize injury, <br />nothing in this policy requires an officer to retreat or be exposed to possible physical injury before <br />applying reasonable force. <br />300.3.1 USE OF FORCE TO EFFECT AN ARREST <br />An officer may use reasonable force (Minn. Stat. § 609.06 and Minn. Stat. § 629.33): <br />(a) In effecting a lawful arrest. <br />(b) In the execution of a legal process. <br />(c) In enforcing an order of the court. <br />(d) In executing any other duty imposed by law. <br />(e) In preventing the escape, or to retake following the escape, of a person lawfully held <br />on a charge or conviction of a crime. <br />(f) In restraining a person with a mental illness or a person with a developmental disability <br />from self -injury or injury to another. <br />(g) In self defense or defense of another. <br />An officer who makes or attempts to make an arrest need not retreat or desist from his/her efforts <br />by reason of resistance or threatened resistance of the person being arrested; nor shall such <br />officer be deemed the aggressor or lose his/her right to self-defense by the use of reasonable <br />force to effect the arrest or to prevent escape or to overcome resistance. <br />Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2020/04/12, All Rights Reserved. Use of Force - 30 <br />Published with permission by New Brighton Department of <br />Public Safety <br />