We recognize the eight use-of-force policies and utilize these in our policing. Excessive force is not tolerated in the Manteca Police Department. We are listening. We hear you. We understand that change is needed, and will strive for further development past the ‘8 Can’t Wait’ initiative. We are thoroughly reviewing our current practices to ensure the utmost safety for everyone.

The Commission on Police Officer Standards (POST) defines police legitimacy as trust and confidence in the police, the acceptance of police authority, and the belief that officers are fair. Officers build public confidence by procedural justice: treating people with dignity and respect; making decisions fairly, based on facts; giving people a voice and a chance to tell their side of the story; and acting in a way that encourages community members to believe that they will be treated with goodwill in the future. The Manteca Police Department is committed to ensuring procedural justice and operating in accordance with the policies outlined here.

1. Ban Chokeholds and Strangleholds
   • Chokeholds and strangle holds are not authorized for use by your Manteca Police Officers. Use of the carotid restraint has been discontinued as an option within our force option model.
2. Require De-escalation
   • Your Manteca Police department trains all of its officers in de-escalation. Officers are required to attend a four-hour de-escalation training certified by the California Commission of Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST). Every two years thereafter, officers are required to attend a refresher course on the topic. The previously mentioned training is in addition to the training received in the Academy and during their Field Training Program. Officers also attend an eight-hour Crisis Intervention and De-escalation course as well as training within the Department.
   • MPD policy is consistent with SB 230, which requires officers to utilize de-escalation techniques, crisis-intervention tactics, and other alternatives when feasible. We will use Axon’s Empathy Development Training in Virtual Reality (VR), which provides our agency training options to support our Use of Force or Crisis Intervention training program. Axon’s VR-based content is delivered in a 360-Video on an Oculus Go headset, and provides our officers with a first-person point-of-view of both a subject in crisis and a responding officer in various use of force and de-escalation scenarios. Officers will make choices within the training that will affect the scenario’s outcome with the intention of successfully de-escalating the subject.
3. Require Warning Before Shooting or Tasing
   • A warning that “deadly force will be used” is not required, but should be given when feasible under the circumstances. Prior to the use of a TASER officers should provide a verbal warning preceding the use of the TASER, unless it would otherwise endanger the safety of officers when it is not practicable due to the circumstances. Policy sections 300.4 (b) and 309.4 cover this area.
4. Require Exhaustion of All Alternatives Before Shooting
   • Manteca Police Officers are bound by subdivision (a)(2) of Section 835a California Penal Code, which conveys that peace officers may use deadly force “only when necessary in defense of human life”. In determining whether deadly force is necessary, officers shall evaluate each situation in light of the particular circumstances of each case, and shall use other available resources and techniques if reasonably safe and feasible to an “objectively reasonable officer.” As such, this section incorporates the “objectively reasonable officer” standard and acknowledges an officer is required to use non-deadly force only if it is reasonably safe and feasible to do so without endangering the officer’s life or the lives of others.
5. Duty to Intercede
   • The Manteca Police Department requires an officer who witnesses excessive force to intercede when in a position to do so. The policy also requires the officer to report their observations to a supervisor promptly. The requirement is covered in our policy under Section 300.2.1.
6. Ban Shooting at Moving Vehicles
   • Manteca Police Officers are not forbidden from shooting vehicles; however, shooting at a moving vehicle is rarely effective, and officers should move out of the path of a vehicle. The Manteca Police Department recognizes that shooting at a moving vehicle is rarely effective, and officers should make a reasonable attempt to move out of the path of an approaching vehicle. We also recognize that there may be situations that leave officers no choice but to protect a member of the community, other officers, or their own life utilizing a firearm. An officer should only discharge a firearm at a moving vehicle or its occupants when the officer reasonably believes there are no other reasonable means available to avert the threat of the vehicle, or if deadly force other than the vehicle is directed at the officer or others.
   • Officers should not shoot at any part of a vehicle in an attempt to disable the vehicle. The Manteca Police Department follows guidelines in Section 300.4.1. Our last incident involving shooting at a moving vehicle was in May 2010.
7. Require Use of Force Continuum
   • Officers are required to make decisions in rapidly changing situations. The Use of Force Continuum concept is an aged concept from previous decades and has given way to more knowledgeable, science-based use of force training and policies. Use of Force is covered in Section 300, and the policy falls in line with California Penal Code Section 835a.
     Manteca PD currently uses a “Force Options Model.” The benefits realized from our current force options model, coupled with our contemporary and comprehensive use of force policy outweigh the benefits of instituting a use of force continuum.
   • Our policy is based upon the reasonableness of force used by officers during the circumstances faced at the time and based upon the information they perceive at the time of the incident. The force options model reflects the objective reasonableness standard, which we believe is the best policy to address the need for officers to respond to tense, rapidly evolving situations and is consistent with AB 392.
8. Require Comprehensive Reporting
   • The Manteca Police Department requires officers to document any use of force in a police report thoroughly. Documentation requirements are covered in Sections 300.5, 300.9, and 302.

Resources

• Department Policy
• 8 Can't Wait Brochure

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