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The police must have a written use of force policy

Mar 25, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor

In Guyana, “The use of force by members of the Guyana Police Force,” are excellent words to utter to start a conversation with, or even better to initiate an argument. The social media is awashed with images of policemen in uniform beating up civilians in the public and at police stations. There are numerous videos of civilians abusing and assaulting policemen in uniform. Both the Minister of Home Affairs and the Commissioner of Police descended on the topic during the just concluded Annual Inspectors and Sergeants Conference.

Editor, please permit me to again posit my ‘three bits’ in the confabulation.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) defines force as,” that amount of effort required by the police to compel compliance from an unwilling subject.” This includes physical, chemical, impact, electronic and firearm force. The IACP defines excessive use of force thus, “The application of an amount and/or frequency of force greater than that required to compel compliance from a willing or unwilling subject.”

The Code of Ethics of the IACP states that a police officer will never employ unnecessary force or violence and will only use such force in the discharge of duty as is reasonable in all circumstances. In addition, force should be used only with the greatest restraint and only after discussion, negotiation and persuasion have been found to be inappropriate or ineffective. While the use of force is occasionally unavoidable, every police officer will refrain from applying the unnecessary infliction of pain or suffering and will never engage in cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment of any person.

Use of force is sometimes a necessary part of the job of a policeman, but determining what is reasonable is highly subjective.

In the United States of America, the landmark case is Graham v Connor (1989) in which the Court held: ” The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgements in circumstances that are tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation. The standard according to the decision is the “reasonably objective officer”.

Many types of a force options continuum exist. The one used by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) is very instructive. It has five levels. Level One is the Compliant Level where no use of force is usually reasonable. Level Two is the Restrictive (Passive) Level where the subject does not follow the officer’s command. Force options here include guiding or directing the subject through hands-on techniques. Level Three is the Resistive (Active) Level which occurs when a subject actively resists arrest. Level three force options include joint manipulation or restraints, leverage techniques, pressure points or even OC (pepper) spray, with a warning given first under proper circumstances. Level Four is the Assaultive (bodily harm) Level, a direct attack on an officer or others.

Appropriate force options at this level include strikes with hands, fists, elbows or knees, kicks, batons and forceful directing the subject to the ground. Level Five is the Assaultive (serious bodily harm or death) Level where the appropriate response would be deadly force.

It is known that the police use of force is a reactive process. They react to the suspect’s action. So, the police must have a written Use of Force Police Policy. It must have built – in contingencies. It must be tactically sound and administratively feasible. However, merely having a written policy is not enough. The policy must be disseminated at all levels, training sessions on applying the policy need to be held and the policy need to provide methods for reporting incidents.

According to use of force expert Nowicki (2002), ” There are three rules relating to the use of force by an officer. Rule number one is that you go home the same way as when you went to work: ALIVE. Rule number two is you don’t go to prison. Rule number three is that you keep your job. If your use of force is reasonable, you protect yourself, your agency, the community and even the assailant. But when in doubt, remember rule number one.”

May God help the Guyana Police Force.

Yours faithfully

Clinton Conway

Assistant Commissioner of Police

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