Point of Law: Using the Baton

Your agency's use-of-force policy needs to specify when the baton can be used, the legal justification for its use, and what to do afterward.

Mark Tarte

Clint Smith

Point of Law: Recent Rulings on Exigency

A 2021 case involving an Iowa police department reveals how the Supreme Court is refining the exigent circumstances exemption.

Point of Law: Detention After Finding No PC

Make sure your policies protect the constitutional rights of the detainee and comply with the law.

Judge Allows Suit Over Pointing Guns at Man to Proceed Against CA Officers

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns ruled that a jury should decide whether officers were guilty of unreasonable seizure and excessive force on Sept. 9, 2014, when they trained their guns on Demetrice Sightler after he walked onto his balcony.

Mark G. Stainbrook and T.D. De La Pena

Jeff Line

Eyewitness Identification

A pretrial identification procedure is considered too unreliable if it is "so impermissibly suggestive as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of misidentification."