Use of Force Policy Adequacy in Rural and Urban Agencies

Abstract

Police use of force has become one of the most widely covered topics in the media today. Especially in the past year, police use of force incidents have been heavily scrutinized and reviewed, and it was one of the most prominent topics of discussion in the 2020 presidential election. Previous studies have shown that there are factors which influence an officer’s choice to use force beyond the circumstances of the encounter itself. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the adequacy of a rural law enforcement agency’s use of force policy – the National Park Service – while comparing it to an urban-tailored law enforcement use of force policy – the State of Minnesota – based on previous use of force research findings. It is ultimately recommended that the National Park Service modernize its use of force policy to be more consistent with the Minnesota policy. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.