Case Law & Resources: Hawai’i
No relevant case law was found by our researchers.
Case Law
Resources
Citation
Summary and Notes
This policy provides general guidelines for the use of force.
Police officers may use reasonable force to effectively bring an incident under control, while protecting the lives of officers and others.
Vascular Neck Restraints are temporarily suspended, pending review.
Relevant Excerpt
VII. A. Officers should generally use the appropriate level of force, which can reasonably be expected to succeed
in controlling the situation. Officers are not required to move step by step through all the levels of control. Skipping levels may be reasonable given the resistance encountered. An officer is not expected to use unarmed tactics or a chemical agent on a subject who is violent and armed with a weapon.
If a subject escalates or deescalates his or her level of resistance, officers can respond by adjusting according to the model while retaining a level of advantage to remain in control of the situation.
B. Besides the subject's resistance, there are other factors that can affect the appropriate level of control (e.g., the nature of the offense, the size of the subject relative to the officer, the skill level of the subject relative to the officer, the sex of the officer and the subject, the age of the officer and the subject, physical limitations and the relative strength of the parties, multiple aggressors, close proximity, injury or exhaustion of the officer, the imminent probability of danger, the presence of a weapon or potential weapon, and so forth).