DCJS Use of Force Principles 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An emotionally disturbed person advances toward an officer shouting incoherently but is unarmed. The officer's BEST initial response is:
- Immediately deploy a firearm
- Use verbal commands and create distance while assessing the threat (Correct answer)
- Apply a chokehold to end the situation quickly
- Call for a supervisor and take no action until they arrive
Correct answer: Use verbal commands and create distance while assessing the threat
When facing an unarmed emotionally disturbed person, officers should use verbal commands, create distance, and continuously reassess before escalating to physical force.
Question 2: Which concept describes the idea that an officer need not wait until a weapon is pointed at them before using defensive force?
- Duty to retreat
- Imminent threat doctrine (Correct answer)
- Equal force rule
- Submission principle
Correct answer: Imminent threat doctrine
The imminent threat doctrine recognizes that officers may act against a threat that is about to occur, not only one already in progress.
Question 3: Which of the following best describes 'totality of the circumstances' as it applies to use of force?
- Only the final action of the suspect before force is used matters
- All relevant facts and circumstances known to the officer at the moment force is used are considered (Correct answer)
- The suspect's full criminal history determines force level
- Only department policy governs the analysis, not case facts
Correct answer: All relevant facts and circumstances known to the officer at the moment force is used are considered
Courts examine all facts and circumstances known to the officer at the moment of the force decision, not isolated individual factors.
Question 4: A suspect who is handcuffed and secured begins spitting at the officer. The officer may appropriately:
- Use deadly force since the suspect is still resisting
- Place a spit mask on the suspect to prevent further spitting (Correct answer)
- Strike the suspect repeatedly until compliant
- Release the handcuffs and start the encounter over
Correct answer: Place a spit mask on the suspect to prevent further spitting
A spit mask is a proportional, non-injurious response to a handcuffed subject who is spitting, addressing the threat without excessive force.
Question 5: Under DCJS guidelines, the use of a chokehold or vascular neck restraint by Virginia officers is:
- Unrestricted and available for any level of resistance
- Permitted only as a last resort when deadly force would otherwise be justified under many agency policies (Correct answer)
- Encouraged as a primary control technique
- Forbidden only for female suspects
Correct answer: Permitted only as a last resort when deadly force would otherwise be justified under many agency policies
Most Virginia agencies, in accordance with updated DCJS guidance, restrict neck restraints to situations where deadly force is otherwise justified, given their life-threatening potential.
Question 6: Which Supreme Court case established that excessive force claims against law enforcement are analyzed under the Fourth Amendment?
- Tennessee v. Garner
- Graham v. Connor (Correct answer)
- Monell v. Department of Social Services
- Hudson v. McMillian
Correct answer: Graham v. Connor
Graham v. Connor (1989) established that all claims of excessive force during arrest or investigatory stop are governed by the Fourth Amendment's objective reasonableness standard.
Question 7: An officer is punched by a suspect. Before responding with force, the officer must:
- Obtain written approval from a supervisor
- Wait to be struck a second time to confirm hostile intent
- Immediately assess the threat and respond with force proportional to that threat (Correct answer)
- Disengage and file a report without using any force
Correct answer: Immediately assess the threat and respond with force proportional to that threat
When assaulted, an officer immediately assesses the threat level and may respond with proportional force; there is no requirement to absorb additional blows first.
DCJS Use of Force Principles 3
An emotionally disturbed person advances toward an officer shouting incoherently but is unarmed.
The officer's BEST initial response is: