New Requirement that Law Enforcement Officers Intervene and Report Excessive Use of Force

The North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice recommended in a 2020 report that state and local law enforcement agencies enact policies requiring officers to intervene in and report about circumstances in which a law enforcement officer witnesses excessive use of force or abuse of a suspect or arrestee. The North Carolina Sheriff’s Association similarly recommended in a 2020 report that all law enforcement agencies and the North Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation Program adopt a policy requiring an officer to intervene when necessary to prevent another officer from using excessive force and to report any such intervention. This session, the General Assembly imposed such duties as a matter of state law rather than agency policy. This post will discuss current statutory law governing officer’s use of force and recent amendments enacted by S.L. 2021-137 (H 536) and S.L. 2021-138 (S 300). Current law. G.S. 15A-401(d)(1) permits a law enforcement officer to use force to arrest a person whom the officer reasonably believes has committed a criminal offense or to prevent such a person’s escape from custody. A law enforcement officer also may use force to defend himself or a third person from what the officer reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of physical force while the officer is attempting to carry out an arrest or prevent an escape. An officer may only use the amount of force that the officer reasonably believes is necessary to prevent the escape, effect the arrest, or to defend the [...]