Ethical Policing and Use of Force Training Course

Participants can apply core legal and human rights principles to operational force decisions.

• Legality, necessity, proportionality and accountability within force authorisation
• UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms
• Distinguishing lawful force from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
• Positive duties to protect life and provide medical assistance
• Jurisdictional powers, agency policy and individual officer responsibility
• Human rights analysis of arrest, detention and crowd-control decisions

Participants can use a structured model to make, communicate and review force decisions.

• National Decision Model stages applied to rapidly changing incidents
• Information, intelligence and assumptions recorded before tactical action
• Threat, harm, risk, opportunity and necessity assessment
• Options appraisal using proportionality, reversibility and foreseeable consequences
• Command intent translated into individual officer decision points
• Decision logs capturing rationale, updates, actions and outcomes

Participants can assess threats and select positioning that reduces foreseeable force requirements.

• Dynamic risk assessment before contact, during contact and after control
• Subject behaviour, environment, numbers and weapons threat indicators
• Distance, cover, containment and escape routes as tactical variables
• Contact and cover roles during arrests and high-risk encounters
• Time creation through containment, specialist support and tactical patience
• Recognising when immediate intervention outweighs further communication attempts

Participants can use tactical communication methods to seek voluntary compliance and reduce confrontation.

• Contact, cover and communication roles assigned before engagement
• Active listening, empathy statements and behavioural influence techniques
• Behavioural Crisis Intervention techniques for distressed or agitated subjects
• Clear commands, consequence statements and achievable compliance requests
• Tone, body position and pacing as non-verbal de-escalation tools
• Recognising communication failure and transitioning to protective action

Participants can select and justify force options against assessed threat and operational necessity.

• Force options matched to resistance, threat and lawful objective
• Necessity test separating convenience from operationally required intervention
• Proportionality analysis balancing expected harm against protective purpose
• Reasonable officer perspective, available information and time pressure
• Continuous reassessment as subject behaviour and circumstances change
• Stopping force promptly once control and safety are achieved

Participants can identify control and restraint risks and apply safeguards after arrest.

• Arrest planning based on offence, threat, escape and evidence risks
• Team coordination during handcuffing, searching and controlled movement
• Positional asphyxia indicators following prone restraint or compression
• Time limits and monitoring requirements for restrictive positioning
• Safe transfer from arrest scene to vehicle, custody or medical care
• Immediate escalation when restraint creates breathing or consciousness concerns

Participants can evaluate firearms and less-lethal force decisions against strict necessity and accountability.

• Firearms deployment limited to imminent threats of death or serious injury
• Warning, identification and tactical alternatives before firearm discharge
• Less-lethal options, expected effects and foreseeable medical complications
• Weapon-specific policy, training currency and authorisation controls
• Post-discharge scene security, medical aid and evidence preservation
• Independent review expectations following firearm or serious-injury incidents

Participants can adapt policing responses for vulnerable people while maintaining safety and lawful control.

• Mental-health crisis indicators requiring modified communication and containment
• Neurodiversity, cognitive impairment and communication-accessibility considerations
• Children, older persons and trauma survivors during police contact
• Intoxication, excited delirium claims and evidence-based medical caution
• Safeguarding referrals following domestic abuse, exploitation or self-harm risks
• Specialist support requests documented within operational decision records

Participants can identify bias risks and apply fair-treatment practices during enforcement decisions.

• Procedural justice: voice, neutrality, respect and trustworthy motives
• Implicit bias risks in suspicion, threat perception and force escalation
• Behaviour-based indicators distinguished from stereotypes and protected characteristics
• Fair decision records explaining objective grounds for intervention
• Disaggregated force data used to identify disproportionality patterns
• Supervisor challenge where language or reasoning signals biased judgement

Participants can produce fact-based reports that explain force decisions and preserve evidence.

• Chronological force reports separating observation, assessment, action and outcome
• Articulating specific behaviours rather than conclusory threat labels
• Decision rationale linked to legal authority, policy and assessed risk
• Body-worn video, radio logs and photographs as corroborating evidence
• Medical assessment, injuries and aftercare recorded without speculation
• Disclosure obligations, report integrity and prohibited retrospective alteration

Participants can supervise force incidents through direction, welfare checks and documented review.

• Supervisor responsibilities before, during and after force application
• Command structures, span of control and escalation thresholds
• Real-time intervention when tactics become unsafe or disproportionate
• Welfare, relief and psychological support after traumatic incidents
• Initial supervisory review for policy, evidence and medical compliance
• Referral routes for misconduct, criminal investigation or training action

Participants can prioritise medical care, scene safety and welfare after force is used.

• Medical aid as an immediate duty after force application
• Primary survey principles: airway, breathing, circulation and consciousness
• Ambulance requests, handover information and custody medical escalation
• Monitoring restrained persons for deterioration, distress and altered consciousness
• Scene roles separating care, security, evidence and family communication
• Post-incident welfare for officers, subjects and affected witnesses

Participants can plan proportionate public-order responses that protect rights and public safety.

• Facilitation of peaceful assembly alongside prevention of violence
• Command objectives distinguishing crowd management from crowd dispersal
• Dialogue policing, liaison officers and graduated intervention options
• Targeted action against offenders rather than indiscriminate crowd force
• Warnings, safe egress routes and documented dispersal decisions
• After-action review of injuries, complaints and community impact

Participants can manage digital evidence to support accountability, investigation and fair review.

• Body-worn video activation, deactivation and explanation requirements
• Digital evidence preservation using continuity, access and audit controls
• Video interpretation limits: framing, audio gaps and visual perspective
• Radio transmissions, dispatch records and location data reconstruction
• Privacy, redaction and disclosure duties for recorded material
• Supervisor checks for missing footage and unexplained recording gaps

Participants can review complaints and incidents for accountability, remedial action and learning.

• Complaint intake preserving allegations, evidence and complainant welfare
• Administrative, disciplinary and criminal review pathways distinguished
• Root cause analysis separating individual error from system conditions
• After-action review findings converted into policy and training actions
• Early intervention indicators: repeated force, complaints and reporting anomalies
• Learning communications that protect due process and public confidence

Participants can design practical controls for monitoring ethical use-of-force performance.

• Use-of-force policy audit against law, human rights and procedure
• Performance measures covering frequency, severity, injuries and demographics
• Force-data dashboards identifying units, locations and recurring incident types
• Training-needs analysis from report reviews, complaints and tactical outcomes
• Corrective action plans with owners, deadlines and assurance evidence
• Governance reporting for senior leaders, oversight bodies and communities

Participants can build, review and present a complete ethical use-of-force response and organisational assurance pack.

• Complex incident brief integrating arrest, vulnerability, force and medical risks
• National Decision Model record supporting each critical operational choice
• Force report documenting observations, proportionality rationale and aftercare
• Supervisory review checklist identifying evidence, policy and welfare actions
• Root cause analysis and corrective action plan for identified weaknesses
• Peer review against human rights, accountability and procedural justice standards