For some time now I have been reading about the “Use of Force Continuum” for police officers and giving a lot of thought to how that pertains to civilians, especially civilians like us who are trained in Combatives. Here are some thoughts I put together, PLEASE feel free to comment and share as this is an area I believe ALL of US should understand. So if you have some expert or legal advice to offer please do as I am sure everyone will appreciate and benefit from it.
Well here goes…. police have a special set of rules called the Use of Force Continuum. These rules explain the level of force an officer can escalate to if the suspect resists. Here is the list I found: Courtesy of Rory Miller’s “Scaling Force”, Great book, (actually all Rory’s book are great go to Amazon and get them!)
Level 1 Presence – Using authority, body language, etc to de-escalate and control.
Level 2 Voice – Using tone, volume, etc to dominate or dictate a conversation.
Level 3 Touch – Using non-damaging physical contact to calm, direct, or distract.
Level 4 Control – Using technique to restrain or control a violent situation.
Level 5 Less Lethal – Using strikes, bone breaks, sprains, etc to eliminate a violent threat.
Level 6 Lethal – Using lethal force to eliminate a deadly threat.
You can see that an officer’s job isn’t quite as easy as most think. There is a lot of pressure, imagine that there is a deadly threat and your job is to stand in front of it and control it. Yeah makes your office job seem kinda wimpy….. cause it is. Imagine being under this amount of pressure, then told you need to adhere to the “Use of Force Continuum”. Things just got 100x more difficult. Of course there are situations where they have to make split second decisions and jump from level 1 to level 5 or even level 6. The point is they are demonstrating control via a set of principles designed to show us that they did indeed try to resolve the situation without violence.
I have come up with a civilian version to be used solely as a guide in order to teach the responsibility of self-preservation. Students must be trained that they have a responsibility to use the required amount of force necessary to control the level of violence that the attacker is providing. NOT for the safety of the attacker but so they do not go to jail themselves acting under what they believed was “Self-Defense”. ultimately the attacker’s safety and well-being are of no concern…. YOU MUST protect yourself and go home to see your family. But we do live in world of cameras and assholes who pull out their video cameras before trying to call for help or getting involved themselves. The following is the list of levels I came up with please feel free to comment, enlighten me, or just plain criticize.
1. Awareness/Avoidance: body language to not become a victim, Seeking alternate routes to remove yourself from the situation, escape, learn to stand strong and let the threat know you are willing to take it all the way.
2. Presence/Verbal Commands: Use body language to show strength/De-escalation techniques, talk them down if possible.
3. Touch/Control: Empty hand Submission techniques, locks, holds, and controlling the attacker.
4. Self-Defense Devices/Striking: Using Pepper spray, kubaton, Improvised weapons/Empty Hand striking.
5. Less Lethal: incapacitate the attacker so they are unable to continue their attack against you.
6. Lethal Force: Kill or be killed.
I want all my students to be mindful of the fact that they must think about the consequences of their actions good or bad, we do live in a very liberal place. I want my students to avoid the “What if?” effect that can lead to freezing under duress in a violent situation. Good people have morals and therefore tend to second guess themselves which leads to hesitation. Hopefully something like this can help those people who may lean in that direction and teach them to be confident in their decision to defend themselves.
Ultimately I want good, hardworking people to be safe and have the ability to protect themselves and their families. It bothers me to see someone fighting for their freedom in court for protecting themselves. Please comment and give us all your opinions, professional advice and/or legal info based on civilians and use of force. There’s much for us to learn.
See you on the path,
Sean Anderson
Mayhem Combatives
Mayhem Combatives 