Policy Text
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Reserved. Published with permission by Santa Clara
County Sheriff's Office Use of Force - 1 Policy
511 Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Custody Manual
Use of Force
511.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance and direction to staff in the use of force during the
lawful performance of their duties. This policy applies to all Office of the Sheriff Custody Bureau
("Sheriff's Office") sworn staff in the use of force against any person, which includes incarcerated
persons and non- incarcerated persons.
511.1.1 DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this policy, the following terms are defined as follows:
Appropriate Force - Force that is objectively reasonable, necessary, proportional and consistent
with this policy.
Cooling Off Period - A period of at least ten minutes since the most recent interaction with
Custody Bureau staff, during which Custody Bureau deputies will not verbally interact with the
person prior to a planned course of action and should back away from the immediate presence
of the person if consistent with safety and security.
Deadly Force - Any use of force that creates a substantial risk of causing death or serious bodily
injury. Deadly Force includes, but is not limited to, the discharge of a firearm.
De-escalation - The process of using strategies and techniques intended to decrease the intensity
of the situation. The goal of De- escalation is to gain the voluntary compliance of the person and
thereby reduce or eliminate the necessity to use physical force.
De-escalation Techniques and Tactics - Actions used by deputies that minimize the likelihood
of the need to use force during an incident and increase the likelihood of gaining voluntary
compliance from the person.
De Minimis Force - De Minimis Force is a physical interaction meant to separate, guide, and/
or control the person in a manner that does not cause more than momentary discomfort, and is
not reasonably likely to cause any pain, including: control holds or joint manipulation techniques
without pain, hands or equipment used to stop, push back, separate, guide, or escort a person, handcuffing, holding or displaying a weapon without pointing it at a person, or displaying pepper
spray.
Force Options - Force Options are choices identified by deputies and agency policy to overcome
Resistance, effect an arrest, prevent an escape, or gain control of an incident.
Feasible - Means reasonably capable of being done or carried out under the circumstances to
successfully achieve the arrest or lawful objective without increasing risk to the deputy or another
person.
Imminent Threat - A threat of death or serious bodily injury is "imminent" when, based on the
totality of the circumstances, a reasonable deputy in the same situation would believe that a person
has the present ability, opportunity, and apparent intent to immediately cause death or serious
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Copyright Lexipol, LLC 2024/10/1 6, All Rights
Reserved. Published with permission by Santa Clara
County Sheriff's Office Use of Force - 2 Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office
Custody Manual
Use of Force
bodily injury to the peace officer or another person. An imminent harm is not merely a fear of future
harm, no matter how great the fear and no matter how great the likelihood of the harm, but is one
that, from appearances, must be instantly confronted and addressed.
Inappropriate Force - Force that is not objectively reasonable, necessary, or proportionate or
consistent with this policy.
Intermediate Force - Force that is more than De Minimis Force and less than Deadly Force. This
includes force that causes temporary pain, a complaint of temporary pain, or force likely to cause
injuries less than a Serious Bodily Injury.
Objectively Reasonable Force - An objective standard viewed from the perspective of a
reasonable deputy on the scene, without the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, and within the limitation
of the Totality of the Circumstances presented at the time of incident.
Planned Response - A situation where time and circumstances allow staff the opportunity to
strategize an approach to an incident that might require force (e.g., to remove a person from a
confined space or to otherwise enter that confined space within the jail).
Proportional Force - To be proportional, the level of force applied must reflect the Totality of
Circumstances surrounding the situation at hand, including the nature and immediacy of any
threats posed to staff and others. Deputies must rely on training, experience, and assessment of
the situation to decide an appropriate level of force to be applied. Reasonable and sound judgment
will dictate the Force Option to be employed. Proportional force does not require deputies to use the same type or amount of for ce as the subject. The more immediate the threat and the more
likely that the threat will result in death or serious physical injury, the greater the level of force that
may be proportional, objectively reasonable, and necessary