What two questions must an officer consider regarding the use of force?

• A. Was pre-approved by a supervisor?
• B. Was there de-escalation attempted?
• C. Was action reasonable and necessary? Was the amount of force applied reasonable and necessary?
• D. Was the action lethal?

Answer: (C)

The two questions officers must ask are: was the action reasonable and necessary, and was the amount of force used reasonable and necessary. The core idea is that force is judged against what a reasonable officer would do in the moment (objectively reasonable) and against whether the force was needed to achieve a lawful objective (necessity). The response must also be proportional to the threat and resistance faced; the action taken should be appropriate to the situation, and the force used should not exceed what is needed to stop the threat.

Pre-approval by a supervisor isn’t required in real-time use of force, though policies may govern reporting. Attempting de-escalation is best practice and can influence the assessment, but the fundamental evaluation centers on reasonableness and necessity of both the conduct and the force applied. Lethality is a type of force, and would be evaluated under the same standards, but the two-question framework itself focuses on action and force proportionality.