BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics
- Home
- Topics
- Publications & Products
- Data Collections
- Funding
- Data Analysis Tools
- About Us
FAQ Detail
|
Are deaths resulting from any use of force by state or local law enforcement personnel included in the ARD program? Yes. All deaths resulting from any use of force by law enforcement officers are included in the ARD collection. Law enforcement officers are authorized to use force in an escalating series of actions in order to resolve a situation. The amount of force used can range from the mere presence of an officer to the use of lethal force. Most law enforcement agencies have policies that guide the appropriate level of force for a given situation. Law enforcement personnel are trained to only use lethal force when an arrest subject poses a serious threat to the officer or another individual. The presence of such a threat indicates an arrest would be imminent because the threshold of criminal behavior to prompt an arrest is far lower than the threshold to prompt the use of lethal force. All deaths resulting from uses of force that were not intended to be lethal are also included in the arrest-related deaths collection. |