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The Justice Department has updated its policy on the use of force for the first time in 18 years, telling federal agents that they must intervene if they see other law enforcement officials using excessive force – a change that follows years of protests. against police killings.
The new policy is outlined in a note issued Friday by Attorney General Merrick Garland, which was circulated Monday to regular federal law enforcement agents.
The Washington Post reviewed a copy of a four-page note addressed to the heads of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Marshal’s Office and the Bureau of Prisons. Garland wrote in the note that the guidelines are intended to keep the official policies of these agencies, which are units of the Ministry of Justice, up to date with current training and practices of federal law enforcement.
Officers will be trained and must recognize and act in accordance with the affirmative obligation to intervene to prevent or stop, as appropriate, any officer from using excessive force or any other use of force that violates the Constitution, other federal laws, or The policy of the Department of Reasonable Use of Force, “the note said.
politics, which is due to take effect on July 19, does not force state and local police – or federal law enforcement agencies outside the Department of Justice – to follow a similar standard.
Excerpt from the book “His Name is George Floyd”
The language of the “obligation to intervene” derives from the recommendations made years ago by law enforcement groups. The change comes nearly two years after the death of George Floyd in 2020, a Minneapolis man who died below the knee of a local police officer, as other officials observed. Prior to Friday, the Ministry of Justice’s policy on the use of force had not been updated since 2004.
Garland’s note clarifies that federal law enforcement officials are also required to act if they see someone in need of medical care, stating: “Officers will be trained and must recognize and act in accordance with the affirmative obligation to require and / or provide medical assistance if necessary, when necessary. “
Larry Cosme, president of the Association of Federal Law Enforcement Officials, said the policy did not arise from a specific incident, but rather was part of a larger and longer effort to update federal law enforcement rules and guidelines.
“This is a modernization of the police and you need to update the policies to reflect what is happening in our country,” Cosme said. “Every officer who is a good officer will always try to do his job in the best way possible, and that reinforces what men and women in federal law enforcement are already doing.”
More broadly, the note sets out what the Department of Justice considers to be best law enforcement practices, reiterating previous guidelines that officers should not shoot at people with their weapons just because they are fleeing or shooting at vehicles. means only to make them stop.
The policy also says that lethal force should not be used “against persons whose actions pose a threat only to themselves or to property, unless a person poses an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to the employee or other persons in the immediate vicinity. closeness”.
As part of a police training conference that promotes the “military mentality” of officers
The tone of Garland’s note is also a departure from the 2004 version, which states in simple, shorter language that officers “may use lethal force only when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the object of such force is constitutes an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to the employee or to another person. “
Garland’s note, by contrast, states: “It is the policy of the Ministry of Justice to value and preserve human life. Employees may use only force that is objectively reasonable to gain effective control of the incident while protecting the safety of the employee and others. “
“Employees may use force only when there does not appear to be a reasonably effective, safe and feasible alternative and may use only force that reasonable officers at the scene would use in the same or similar circumstances,” the note said.
Reflecting new priorities among many law enforcement agencies, Garland’s note also encourages officials and agents to prioritize de-escalating confrontations and training on “de-escalation tactics and techniques designed to obtain voluntary compliance from an entity before using force, and such tactics and techniques should be used if they are objectively feasible and they will not increase the danger to the officer or others. “
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