DEVILS LAKES - Deadly force is an option that law enforcement officers in North Dakota rarely employ, says one law enforcement instructor, but the subject filters through virtually everything in officer training.
“Basically within almost everything we do at the police academy, we’re talking about use of force,” said Lloyd Halvorson, former director of the Peace Officer Training Program at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake.
Questions about when officers are justified in using deadly force surfaced after a University of North Dakota police officer Jerad Braaten shot and injured David James Elliott, 41, Grand Forks, outside Altru Hospital on Feb. 28. The shooting occurred following two high-speed pursuits through the city and after Elliott rammed his pickup into a police vehicle in the parking lot of Altru.
Sgt. Danny Weigel, of the UND Police Department, was not aware of any other officer-involved shootings in the history of his department.
Soon-to-be officers in North Dakota are required to complete a training program, such as the 14-week semester offered by Lake Region, to obtain a peace officer license, among other requirements.
The Lake Region program includes instruction that deals directly with use of force, including legal uses of force, the use of force continuum and basic use of firearms.
But Halvorson, presently the vice president of Academic and Student Affairs at Lake Region, said proper and improper use of force is interwoven into virtually everything the college program teaches, including handling the mentally ill and patrol procedures.
One way trainees learn when and when not to shoot is through role play.
As the scenario plays out, trainees decide when to pull a weapon, which to pull and - if they elect the handgun - whether to pull the trigger.
The instructor then reviews what happened with the trainee and runs through the trainee’s options.
Officers are allowed to use deadly force to prevent what reasonably poses a threat of serious physical injury or death to the officer or others. That is a national standard established in 1985 by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tennessee v. Garner, said Michael Meyer, a UND criminal justice professor.
Officers are not required - as residents are - to retreat so as to avoid using deadly force. Nor does a person have to have a weapon to pose a threat of serious physical injury or death to an officer or others.
“You have to evaluate what the officer knew at the time and the level of fear the officer had about that serious bodily injury or death to himself or somebody else,” said Halvorson.
Officers also can employ a number of tactics to de-escalate a situation and hopefully avoid using force, much less deadly force, Halvorson said, including “verbal judo,” taking cover or putting more distance between the officer and the suspect.
However, Halvorson said, officers sometimes are put into situations where they must make split-second decisions.
The law acknowledges this and evaluates situations in which an officer uses force “from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight,” according to the U.S. Supreme Court opinion Graham v. Connor.
“We’re hoping the officer has just enough control of their adrenaline and they make a good decision” in high-stress situations, said Halvorson.
