How can law enforcement officers avoid legal troubles?

It’s not as complicated as you think. There is nothing secret or super tricky about it at all.

Ready?

Here it is…..

Follow your policy and procedures.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Duh,” or “What the heck is she talking about?”

But it really is that simple, and here’s why.

Courts know that they can’t second guess the split-second decision-making that you do on the street,

Therefore, whatever action you take on the job is governed by the training you did or should have received. If you received proper training and took action that was different from that training, that can get you in trouble.

For all the cops out there, some of you may be thinking this, “But what if my department doesn’t give us any training?” Thankfully, courts have contemplated this scenario as well, and here’s what they decided. If your department did not provide you with the training that you should have received, according to industry standards, that’s more of a department problem, not your problem, so long as your actions follow the training.

The bottom line is this, do what you’ve been trained to do, and do your best to proactively seek out training. Don’t ever rest on your laurels. That means, even after you learn all the things in the police academy and go through your field training program, you can’t stop there.

You need to proactively seek out information to make decisions to the best of your ability in a split second. This is the best protection you can provide for yourself.

In summary, to avoid legal problems, get the training, stick to the training, and don’t ever rest- keep training.

Good luck.

I have had clients facing internal issues due to a need for more training opportunities. Has this happened to you too? Book a call, and we can discuss it.

-Bridget