There are a lot of conversations across the globe today regarding UOF in the US. And one thing that we can all agree on is that police officers making a joke out of training, especially in the area of use of force, is not a good place to start. Today’s article focuses on a recent case, Wright vs. City of Euclid[i]. To start things off, here’s […]
What Not to Do: UOF Training 101 Continue Reading
Part Three – What the Public Needs to Know So, what is qualified immunity? What does it mean to society as a whole? And what should law enforcement officers tell the public when it comes to qualified immunity? What we really need to talk about is how qualified immunity affects our day to day operation. The difficulty as a lay person who watches news
Qualified Immunity – What Every Officer Needs To Know: Part Three Continue Reading
Part Two – The Law of Qualified Immunity and Due Process To fully understand qualified immunity, we need to discuss why qualified immunity is important to the judicial system and taxpayer dollars. More often than not as a Use of Force consultant the questions that I get asked are how do you protect yourself and your agency? And there’s three things that I always
Qualified Immunity – What Every Officer Needs To Know: Part Two Continue Reading
History of How Qualified Immunity Came to Be As I watch what is occurring across the Country I am confused. I have practiced law for nineteen years. And I’ve been in awe over the past couple of months as I have watched legislatures and individuals across the country have conversations about qualified immunity. Like most of my practitioners, we probably didn’t think too much
Qualified Immunity – What Every Officer Needs To Know: Part One Continue Reading
A case out of the 10th Circuit back in January 2020 started as a typical neighborly dispute. This case has a number of twists and turns involving Reasonable Suspicion vs Probable Cause, handcuffing during an Investigative Detention, and the process for releasing a suspect if a determination is made to release the handcuffed suspect without further detention. Before we begin, a couple of things should
Investigative Detention: Donahue v. Wihongi Continue Reading
Today’s case, United States v. Jones, comes from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and looks at the question of whether a police officer can conduct a Terry Stop or Investigative Detention based on a crime that has already been committed. Over 30 years ago SCOTUS answered this question with respect to committed felonies. In United States v Hensley, 469 US 321 (1985), officers stopped a suspect
The Balancing Test: Terry Stop & Misdemeanor Arrests Continue Reading
Access Video as a Course Due to the important nature of this training we are making this training video free to access. This training video is also available as a course for credit and certificate via the DLG Learning Center. You must login and access the training through your DLG Learning Center account to receive your certificate. Please email help@dlglearningcenter.com for more information. You
HB 6004: What Connecticut Officers Need to Know… (Video Training) Continue Reading
In the State of Connecticut, an Act Concerning Police Accountability has garnered a lot of attention over the past few weeks. HB 6004 was passed by the House of Representatives in the General Assembly on July 24, 2020 and the Senate on July 29, 2020. We have fielded many calls and emails regarding the Police Accountability Bill. This document is our attempt to reduce
HB 6004: What Connecticut Officers Need to Know… Continue Reading
Chokeholds and policing are certainly a hot topic in today’s society. Today we will be reviewing a use of force case out of the 9th Circuit that touches on chokeholds and another highly debated topic, qualified immunity. Certainly, police officers don’t often fare well with these types of cases in the 9th Circuit and today’s case is no exception. The specific topic of today’s
The Ever-Complicated Chokehold & Qualified Immunity: Tuuamalemalo v. Greene Continue Reading
Qualified immunity is a type of legal immunity. “Qualified immunity balances two important interests—the need to hold public officials accountable when they exercise power irresponsibly and the need to shield officials from harassment, distraction, and liability when they perform their duties reasonably.” In Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982), the Supreme Court held that federal government officials are entitled to qualified immunity. The
Webinar: Qualified Immunity – What the Public Needs to Know Continue Reading