Every effort has been made by the IACP National Law
Enforcement Policy Center staff and advisory board to
ensure that this document incorporates the most current
information and contemporary professional judgment on
this issue. However, law enforcement administrators should
be cautioned that no "model" policy can meet all the needs
of any given law enforcement agency. Each law enforcement
agency operates in a unique environment of federal court
rulings, state laws, local ordinances, regulations, judicial
and administrative decisions and collective bargaining
agreements that must be considered, In addition, the
formulation of specific agency policies must take into
account local political and community perspectives and
customs, prerogatives and demands; often divergent law
enforcement strategies and philosophies; and the impact of
varied agency resource capabilities among other factors.
This project was supported by a grant awarded by
the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice
Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs,
which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the
National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime,
and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring,
Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking. Points of view or
opinions in this document are those of the author and do not
necessarily represent the official position or policies of the
U.S. Department of Justice or the IACP.
IACP National Law Enforcement Policy Center Staff:
Philip Lynn, Manager; Sara Dziejrna, Project Specialist;
and Vincent Talucci, Executive Director, International
Association of Chiefs of Police.
© Copyright 2010. Departments are encouraged to use this policy
to establish one customized to their agency and jurisdiction.
However, copyright is held by the International Association of
Chiefs of Police, Alexandria, Virginia U.S.A. All rights reserved
under both international and Pan-American copyright conventions.
Further dissemination of this material is prohibited without prior
written consent of the copyright holder.
d.
he or she does not appear to recover in a
reasonable period of time after being ex-
posed, as determined by the officer follow-
ing training guidelines,
e.
he or she is part of a sensitive population
group as defined in this policy,
f.
he or she has been exposed to more than
three ECW cycles,
g.
he or she has been exposed to the effects of
more than one ECW device,
h.
he or she is reasonably believed to have
been exposed to a continuous cycle of 15
seconds or more, or
i.
he or she has exhibited signs of "excited
delirium," as outlined and defined in train-
ing, prior to and/or during ECW exposure.
3.
If the probes penetrate the flesh, photographs
of the contact area should be taken after they
are removed.
4.
When the device has been used operationally,
the officer should collect the cartridge, wire
leads, darts, and AFIDs, and secure them as
evidence.
E. Reporting
1.
The deploying officer shall notify his or her
supervisor as soon as practical after using
the device, and the appropriate use-of-force
report shall be completed. Data from the ECW,
including audio/video recordings if the ECW
is so equipped, shall be downloaded following
use and the file shall be considered a part of
the use-of-force review.
2.
Officers shall specifically document in their
use-of-force report the facts and circumstances
that reasonably required the use of the ECW in
the following manner:
a.
in the "contact" mode,
b.
subject energized more than three cycles,
c.
subject energized for longer than 15 sec-
onds,
d.
more than one ECW being used against the
subject,
e.
used on an individual in a sensitive popula-
tion group as defined in this policy.
F. Auditing
All agency ECWs will be subjected to periodic
and random data downloading. The data obtained
will be reconciled with existing use-of-force
reports to ensure accountability between the cycles
recorded, and those documented in such reports
and occurring in pre-shift testing.