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Best wishes and thank you for your service,
Charles Sipe
Editor
http://www.CriminalJusticeDegreeSchools.com

THE TOTALITY OF CIRCUMSTANCES

The use of force and the need to comply with the Constitution, state statutes, department policy and training; compliance with the first three is dependent upon the adequacy of the fourth: Training. The split-second decision made by an officer in a tactical situation does not permit him/her the luxury of reviewing the Bill of Rights, the state’s penal code and case law, and his department’s manual. That split-second decision is based on his training, and often is tempered by stress, anger and fear. The application of training and the effects of emotions cannot be learned from a book or a classroom chair.

The reasonableness of an action is based on the totality of circumstances. But that concept — the totality of circumstances — is as vague and ambiguous as “probable cause.” How can we develop a set of policies specific enough to guide an officer in every possible situation? We cannot.

Any attempts to do so will force us to fall back on ambiguous, vague and ill-defined adverbs and adjectives such as necessary, probable and reasonable. Even the term force is poorly defined.

How, thus, can we train for “the totality of circumstances” as they might occur in all incidents?

We cannot. We cannot predict and describe “the totality of circumstances” of every possible situation. We cannot teach tactical decision-making solely as a body of knowledge to be learned from books as in a college classroom, or exclusively as a skill to be learned in a hands-on defensive tactics class. The best we can do is, through frequent and realistic training, instill in the officer a framework of ethics and boundaries within which he/she can make good, proper and legal decisions, automatically and instantaneously.

Sound knowledge of Constitutional law, state law, and department policy and procedure, is a necessary foundation. In fact, it is an essential part of the “totality of circumstances.” It is Police Work 101, and should be learned thoroughly before a recruit ever meets an FTO. Ideally the foundation would be learned in pre-service college courses and reinforced in the basic academy. But the structure to be built on that foundation – - that cannot be designed in a textbook or manual or classroom. We can give the officer tools and guidelines, but we cannot possibly direct him/her specifically on what “structure” will take shape in every situation. A “totality of circumstances” is too mushy (and too accurate) to allow for a “one-size-fits-all” set of rules.

So what can we do?

First of all, discard any idea that roll-call training or an annual in-service refresher/advanced officer course will suffice. Training on use of force must be considered a process, not an event. Nor can it be given any priority less than top. Any administrators who risks, for budgetary reasons, not to train his officers would likely face better odds of winning at a gambling casino. Failure to thoroughly train inherently endangers human life. The ability to make a proper use-of-force decision is like a muscle; it must be used and exercised regularly or it will atrophy . . . or never develop at all. Frequent, hands-on, realistic, role-play training in a simulated tactical environment is required. Every officer empowered to make an arrest – from the department head to the newest recruit – should undergo such training on a regular basis. I recommend at least bimonthly. The awesome power to legally deprive a person of his liberty, or to take human life, deserves nothing less. The need transcends — trumps — budgetary constraints, union contracts and inconvenience. Proper training is defensible; inadequate training is inexcusable.

Secondly, recognizing that no training can possibly cover every possible “totality of circumstances,” the role-play situations should include a wide variety of ever-changing “what-if” situations. Historical incidents, especially those in which officers made poor choices or were themselves killed, should be analyzed and recreated as realistically as possible. A wide variety of simulated situations should be used, including those for which there is no single “right” solution. Each simulation should be followed by an honest and objective critique by the officers and instructors.

The goal of such training is not to amass training hours or meet a state standard. Rather, the objective is to cause every officer to develop that internal framework of ethics and boundaries that will enable him/her to make critical decisions instantly and well, based on the unique and dynamic “totality of circumstances.”

Third, we must understand and admit that an officer’s best possible decision may lead to public outrage, protest and criticism. The use of force by police is seldom understood by the public or accurately reported by news media. Public reaction to force is emotional and never based on a thorough knowledge of facts, law or “the totality of circumstances.” People react with strong feelings but little understanding to television news and brief reports in the printed press. We must realize that police in a democratic society will occasionally be vilified for doing their job, even when doing it well. We should never allow public opinion to divert us from doing the right thing.

“Thou shalt not commit MURDER”

To kill in defense of self or others is not a sin.

From the U.S. State Department:
http://travel.state.gov/law/consular/consular_737.html

Steps to Follow When a Foreign National is Arrested or Detained:
1. Determine the foreign national’s country, they must be advised of the right to have their consular officials notified.
2. In some cases, the nearest consular officials must be notified of the arrest or detention of a foreign national, regardless of the national’s wishes.