Managing a Sacred Trust - The Need for New Legislation on the Use of Lethal Force by Public Officers - A Position Paper

• NCJ Number: 101388
• Author(s): P A Pastor
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 48 pages
• Corporate Author: Washington Criminal Justice Training Cmssn
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Although Washington State police have exercised restraint in using deadly force under the State's 'any fleeing felon' statute, the statute should be revised to narrow the circumstances under which police may use deadly force.

Abstract

Washington State's current statute (RCW 9A.16.040) permits an officer to use deadly force on any fleeing felon when other means of apprehension are thwarted or unavailable. A survey conducted by the Law Enforcement Executive Strategies Project between January and July of 1984 solicited policy statements on lethal force from all police agencies in the State and information on lethal-force incidents in the past year. Findings indicate that police agencies generally place greater restrictions on their personnel than the law requires and that officers comply with these policies. Police officers must retain the capacity and the discretion to use deadly force, but discretion should be carefully controlled. The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs recommends that the law be revised to limit police use of deadly force to the circumstances of self-defense when threatened with serious harm or death, the defense of another facing such a threat, and to stop a person who has committed a dangerous felony when other means of apprehension are not available. 30 references and a 69-item bibliography.