Why did FLETC discontinue teaching the Use of Force Model?
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center discontinued teaching the Use of Force Model because models and continuums are inconsistent with the Fourth Amendment and U.S. Supreme Court case law. Regardless of whether one supports the use of continuums in training, there should be no debate about the legal standard governing use of force by law enforcement officers in the United States. In Graham v. Connor, the U.S. Supreme Court declared use of force to be a Fourth Amendment issue subject to an “objective reasonableness” standard. Specifically, the court said: The “reasonableness” of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene. The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments – in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving – about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation. The “reasonableness” inquiry in an
