Your Use of Force Policy

There are always questions here on FRN concerning the type of weapons you prefer, handgun, baton, ASP, stun gun etc… and what types of handcuffs and shackles are used my members. With that said my question to you, the Bondsmen, BEA, FRA, PI, AND Skip Tracer, does your agency have a written Use of Force Policy.

If so how often are you of your employees trained on it. Do you let you staff carry anything they want or think they need or do you or the agency set policy on what equipment they may carry on duty and want training is required before carry such equipment.

If you do not have a use of force policy why not ? And if you do conduct in-service training for your agency what type training do you afford your staff.

My intent is not to put anyone on tilt with these questions, but only to see where we stand as professionals.

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Domestic Security Investigations
P.O. Box 4462
Rockville, MD 20849
Tel: 1-800-387-0787
Anti-Moral Majority Club President
"Fear not the unknown, Fear the person who controls the unknown" Gene 7:14

Great question Gene... since I am almost always alone... my force policy is pretty simple... the only thing I have is usually a pair of handcuffs... if I feel the need to be armed with a firearm... I will call you or someone of your caliber and then you can dictate your 'use of force policy'... in a situation where there are several members of a team... everyone should know exactly what is expected and planned within the group.

Training is paramount and I think should be conducted as a group in its entirety... so each and every one of the group knows exactly what the other is going to do and how he/she will respond and to what level of expertise they have. Training together is absolutely necessary IMHO... and a 'use of force policy' absolutely needs to be set down before you set foot in the field. I think training and planning and doing it together is the way to go and each member of the team needs to be aware of what the other is carrying and how they will respond with whatever they have.

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

We have a use of force policy. Our insurance gives us a break on the Security side of our insurance policy. Any new employee is instructed on this subject and on going training is given thru out the year on many subjects that pertain to Security People and work place violence details. Security people can use their own weapons as long as they stay within 38-40 cal, they must qualify every year. I set the qualification for my company. I also have insurance to cover Use of M-15 and shotguns, three people in my employ can carry 45's Me and the 2 parttime deputy's i use. I have a Use of Force Forum i use anytime there is a use of force which include voice commands to Deadly Force any everything in between.

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The Rose Investigations LLC
Collection Agency
Security & Investigations Consultant
Retired Private Investigator & Bail Enforcement
NAM VET 1969- 1975 US Army (RECON)
Office 260-220-3877
1-888-631-5520
Fax 260-456-6062

I agree with the above.
My company has a written use of force policy, and an appropriate equipment policy. If any force other than verbal commands are used, we fill out a force incident report. If there are any injuries, an injury incident report. No agents may carry any force instruments that they are not certified to use. I give every agent that works with me a taser, restraint, and pepper spray course. It doesn't cost them anything, takes 3-4 days to get it all done and then I know what is expected of them. All of our agents risk forfeiture of their payment for recovery if they break a company policy. That seems to work much better than just saying 'Don't do this or I'll be upset'. They sign a contract for X dollars or X percent, and if they violate the use of force, use equipment they are not certified on, or act in an unprofessional manner, they don't get paid. We have a written policy for everything we do. Surveillance, transport, security, training, all of it. I don't know how many times I have helped out other agents in my state, who would handcuff a defendant to the 'OH Shit' handle in the roof of a car for transport. I can't have things like that going on. It puts me at risk.

As far as firearms, they all certify with my company before they carry a firearm on a recovery. Firearms are covered under the use of force policy, but they may only lawfully be used to defend life, and are therefore a little different animal in my state than OC, taser, or baton. They do however all carry the same firearm, and all carry the same ammunition. If you have a firearms policy, I encourage you to also have a holster, and ammunition policy as well.

Having these things in place, make bail agents, security clients, insurance companies, and even local law enforcement see you as a little more professional. You may increase your chances of being contacted for work. Your insurance company will likely reduce your premium by 20% if you have all these in place.

Training together I think is absolutely paramount. Depending on what type of business you run, it may matter more or less to you. We do lots of different work. There isn't enough of one type (recovery, or security for example) to keep everything going year round. If there are no recoveries, we look for surveillance work, security jobs, protection jobs, or we just offer training to other agents. Whatever your cup(s) of tea, diversify as much as you can, but definitely train with the people you intend to work with.

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Jeff D.
Gauntlet Professional Services
Fugitive Recovery, Bail Bonds, Process Servers, Investigations, Security, Training,
State Approved Courses for POST and DIFP
Located in Central/Southwest Missouri/St. Louis/Kansas City
417.309.0582

Use of force Policy?
My thoughts on this are pretty simple. Best thing that I have done while working in Law Enforcement and in Private Security and I still plan on using it to conduct Fugitive Recovery Operations is this. 1) If you have worked in Law Enforcement or in Private Security and have been well versed in Use of Force training and applications that departments give to their officers and civilian personnel...then continue to use that because that's about the best training one can possibly recieve. 2) This is crucial, Know what your state and local laws regarding threatening to use force and the actual application of force when affecting an arrest, you never know what will happen, especially if you end up justifying yourself in front of 12 people who would rather see you in black and white stripes rather than listening to plain fact and this world just happens to be a cruel place to honest people trying to do a job. 3) If you are going to use weapons in your day to day operations I.E. Firearms, Pepper Spray, Taser X-26 or M-26, ASP style batons, Pepperball, Tear Gas Guns, whatever your thing is. without a doubt! Training and Effective Application of weapons whether lethal or not is a given. Trust me! Nothing pisses a Defense Attorney off more, than someone who has been trained in the use of force and the application of non-lethal and lethal weapons and can actually say in a court of law that they have been trained. Bottom line is...."If you fail to train..Then you train to fail!" and there is nothing more that a Defense Attorney for a criminal likes more then to tell people in a civil case that the agent that used force against their defendant has not even been trained....let alone exposed to it. Anyways these are just my thoughts to add, I would be more than welcome to debate it further if anyone wants to.

OK!!! You are getting a good response Gene on your post.

No doubt that Mr. Martz, 'shooter', and 'frank' all seem to have knowledgeable answers... so training individually and collectively and written policy are the two main features involved here.

_________________
Bill Marx, Sr.
"FREE STATE BAIL BONDS"
"FREE STATE INVESTIGATIONS"
DCJS: 99-176979
Cell: 434-294-0222

"Endeavor to Persevere" "Lone Watie"

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that , comes from bad judgment" "Will Rogers"

My use of force policy is closely related to that of the military. "Use of Force can be escalated to one step above that of....." That being said, many and most of the Counties that I work in have the same policy. Instead of telling a client, when I am asked, that I use military policies I simply state "My UOF is adopted from Gwinnett Counties policy that has been taught to their officers for years." As for training, I join up with my local PD for training, several times per year, and go through the same tactical, handcuffing, entry, "man tracker", UOF, Taser, OC, (ect) training that they receive. I am luck to have that kind of relationship with them that they allow me to accompany them.

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Thomas SnoWolf
FRN# 1999
GAPB 20120726
NSIS ST0707
http://www.rocksolidrg.com
"The hero is not the man that acts without fear,
He is the man that acts inspite of fear"

Thanks for the response so far it is good to know that some of you are on point when it comes to use of force and training issues. I would like to hear from more of the professionals on this critical subject insofar as it affects all of us one way or another.

_________________
Domestic Security Investigations
P.O. Box 4462
Rockville, MD 20849
Tel: 1-800-387-0787
Anti-Moral Majority Club President
"Fear not the unknown, Fear the person who controls the unknown" Gene 7:14

I first would like to state I am not a professional, and am still a noob in the field.

The force policy i have in mind is rather simple really. DO NOT use it unless it is needed. While I will carry a gun, I see no point in busting down the door and gun drawn. Call me sick in the head, But I would find it a great pleasure to camp out and wait for them. Things might change a little for each situation. I understand this, and a gun might be drawn depending on the situation of the suspect. But before I would draw a gun, or have a team member draw his or hold a shot gun. there are these people called law enforcement. We have them for a reason. all in all, there is no need to use force for the most part.

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Jonathan Hack
Bolt Security, Scotsdale AZ
Unarmed Guard
Future Recovery agent.

"We are a nation of laws, not of men." - John Adams

Life is full of lessons and one I know understand. While curiosity and the thirst of knowledge is a great thing; It can become a social burden at times. Not everyone can understand "why".. I try my best to stay patient with those who don't understand and will reject me.

While we have no written policy on using force my partner and myself are proficient with the tools we use. Actually my partner has regular training in a number of of the tools of our trade.

My unwritten policy is this. avoid use of force if at all possible and if force is needed rise one notch above the force that is being brought upon us. If the altercation escalates, continue to raise our force a notch above to apprehend the subject. I've found that if you carry yourself with confidence even when there is fear you have a much less chance of having to use force.

However at some point there will be a need for force and I try and adhere to the following.

Verbal Commands and how you use them relates to a type of force. Soft empty hands, cuffing, directing your subject. Hard empty hands is self explanatory I think. Less than lethal force is oc spray, stun gun, taser, asp, ect. Lethal force I think we all know about that one.

The trick is, to stay level headed enough to use the correct level of force depending on the situation and that takes training and experience. (difficult to stay level headed without training and experience and still difficult with it)

You might disagree, but I think we all must realize that there is a time to back off regroup and try a different tactic if things get really bad or you see that the potential for things getting really bad. That is an option that I think should be used more often, at least in the area's I work. We're not giving up in fact we're coming back more prepared.

I'm starting to ramble but wanted to share my thoughts.

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Bill Williams
Bail Agent
Eagle Bonding Services
Asheville NC 28804
828-777-8667
Lic # NC10013561
Lic # TN 2033018

Never be haughty to the humble
or humble to the haughty - Jefferson Davis