A Legal and Forensic Medicine Approach to Police Physical Intervention Techniques in High-Risk Situations
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
MDPI
Materia
Police force Operational tactical procedures Physical threats Arrest and self-defense skills Prevention of leaf injuries Legal and forensic medicine
Date
2020-04Referencia bibliográfica
Vera-Jiménez, J. C., Lorente, J. A., González-Herrera, L., Álvarez, J. A., Ferreiro-González, M., & Ayuso, J. (2020). A legal and forensic medicine approach to police physical intervention techniques in high-risk situations. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(8), 2809. [doi:10.3390/ijerph17082809]
Abstract
Background: The physical intervention techniques (PITs) typically used by the police in
troublesome situations are examined in terms of injuring potential depending on whether they target
a body zone of high, medium or low vulnerability. Based on legal and forensic considerations, and
principles of congruence, opportunity and proportionality, a need exists to favor opponent locking
and arrest techniques targeting non-vulnerable zones to minimize the risk of severe damage. Methods:
A search of the training manuals for the different kind of law of enforcement officers was carried out.
Revision of injuries was available from electronic databases of academic o medical journals. Results:
Three different locking and arrest PITs based on operational tactical procedures (OTP) that avoid
zones of high or medium vulnerability are proposed. The new techniques use blocking, diverting
and grabbing of the upper and lower limbs, followed by dislocation and locking of the same targets.
Conclusions: The damaging potential of such PITs was assessed in terms of anatomical region and
most were found to have a high risk of severe damage. The alternative PITs proposed here, which
rely on OTP, improve in legal and forensic medical terms on existing choices and dramatically reduce
the risk of injuring arrestees.