5-305 - Force Option- Restraints

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that members who carry weapons and force devices, and who use weapons and force devices, including restraints, adhere to the force guiding principles described in P&P 5-301. The force guiding principles include, but are not limited to, the Sanctity of Life (as incorporated below), the Duty to De-escalate, and Objectively Reasonable, Necessary, and Proportional Force.

MPD and its members shall uphold the sanctity of life (P&P 0-102 and P&P 5-301) by striving to protect and preserve human life in all situations and keep the community and MPD members safe from harm.

Conditions for Use of Handcuffs

Handcuffs, including metal and temporary plastic handcuffs, shall only be used to restrain a person’s hands in accordance with the factors and requirements described below. In addition to the conditions in this policy, the use of handcuffs must be objectively reasonable, necessary, and proportional, and members shall use the lowest degree of force necessary (P&P 5-301). When using handcuffs, members must apply the critical decision-making model (CDM) (P&P 7-801) to continually assess the situation and modulate their use accordingly as the subject behavior changes.

Situational factors

Situations in which handcuff use may be objectively reasonable, necessary, and proportional can include the following (including during arrests, investigative detentions, execution of search warrants, etc.):

• Articulable facts that the person is physically uncooperative.
• Articulable facts that the person may present a physical danger to themselves or others if not physically restrained.
• Reasonable possibility of flight based on the totality of the circumstances.
• The person is under arrest and will be transported off-scene.
• Information that the person possesses or has access to weapons, and presents a danger to the safety of the member or others.
• Reasonable suspicion that the person was involved in a recent violent crime.
• Reasonable suspicion that the person is about to engage in a violent crime.
• The number of people involved in the action causes an articulable safety concern.

1. In accordance with P&P 5-302, members shall document the circumstances necessitating handcuffing in the Narrative Text.
2. When a person has been placed in handcuffs by another agency, members shall not place MPD handcuffs on the person until they have confirmed the factors necessitating handcuffs.

Handcuffing vulnerable populations

Consider individualized factors

In accordance with P&P 5-301, before handcuffing a person who is a minor, obviously pregnant, elderly, or frail, or who has another apparent physical condition, mental health condition, or developmental or intellectual disability or condition, limiting their ability to cause physical harm, or when handcuffing would exacerbate an injury or medical condition, members shall take into account individualized factors of the person including:

• Apparent age.
• Body size.
• Strength relative to the member.
• Known or perceived disabilities or conditions.
• Apparent ability to cause physical harm.
• Other risks posed by the person.

1. If necessary to handcuff such a person, the member shall document their considerations in the Narrative Text.

Handcuff use on minors limited

1. Members shall avoid, when feasible, the use of handcuffs on a minor who the members know, or reasonably should know through inquiry or observation, is under the age of 14.

Situations when it may not be feasible to avoid the use of handcuffs include transporting an arrested minor to the Juvenile Detention Center (JDC).

2. When feasible, members shall make reasonable attempts to notify a minor’s parent or guardian that the minor was handcuffed.

Explain the Use of Handcuffs

When feasible to do so, members should explain to the person prior to handcuffing why they will be handcuffed and the steps that will occur in the process.

Checking Handcuffs

1. Members shall check handcuffs for proper spacing and double lock as soon as it is safe to do so.

2. When a handcuffed person first complains that handcuffs are too tight or are causing pain, the member having custody of the handcuffed person shall, as soon as reasonably possible, check the handcuffs to make sure that they are properly spaced and properly applied. If they are not properly spaced or applied (per training), they shall be readjusted and double-locked.

Plastic Handcuffs

1. Plastic handcuffs may be used in mass arrest situations (P&P 7-805) when the conditions for standard handcuff use apply. They should be available in all Sergeants' vehicles.
2. Plastic handcuffs may also be used to supplement standard handcuffs in emergency situations.
3. When using plastic handcuffs, the member shall keep the person under close observation to prevent injury.

4. Members should be cognizant that plastic handcuffs may tighten when the person’s hands swell or move, sometimes simply in response to pain from the cuffs themselves.
5. Each unit involved in detention or transportation of arrestees with plastic handcuffs should have a plastic handcuff cutter and adequate supplies of extra plastic handcuffs readily available.

Prone Positioning and Transportation

In accordance with P&P 7-350:

1. People in MPD custody shall not be placed in the facedown prone position or any other position that causes a breathing restriction, other than briefly when necessary to secure the person or to prevent the person from causing harm to themselves or others.

2. If a person is in a position that causes a breathing restriction, for the purpose of securing the person or preventing the person from causing harm to self or others, the person shall be placed in a sitting position, or laying on their side, in a recovery position, as soon as safely possible for all parties. The purpose of placing the person in these positions it to allow the person to breathe freely, reducing the possibility of bodily harm or death from any part of the person’s respiratory system being restricted or manipulated.
3. Members shall not secure a person in any way that results in transporting the person face down in a vehicle.

Specifications for Handcuffs

1. Every member shall carry at least one set of handcuffs and the handcuff key while working in a uniform or plainclothes capacity.
2. Handcuffs shall comply with the following requirements:

1. Authorized Brands: Smith & Wesson or Peerless.

2. Authorized Styles: Hinged or Chain.
3. Double locking mechanism.
4. Black or Chrome finish.

• Bodily Harm: Physical pain or injury, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
• Carry Weapons and Force Devices: Having a weapon or force device on one's person. This includes having it in a pocket, holster, or backpack or similar container, as well as having it slung or having it in hand.
• Critical Decision-Making Model: A tool that allows members to organize situational factors and inform their decisions as they respond to police incidents of all degrees of complexity. All sworn members are trained in using the critical decision-making model (CDM). (P&P 7-801)
• Feasible: Objectively reasonably capable of being safely done or carried out.
• Juvenile: An individual who is under the age of eighteen (18) years.
• Mental Health Condition: MN Statute Section 245.462, Subd. 20 defines mental health conditions (referred to as "mental illness" in the law) as "an organic disorder of the brain or a clinically significant disorder of thought, mood, perception, orientation, memory, or behavior that is detailed in a diagnostic codes list published by the commissioner, and that seriously limits a person's capacity to function in primary aspects of daily living such as personal relations, living arrangements, work, and recreation." Mental health conditions may be characterized by impairment of a person's normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning, and caused by social, psychological, biochemical, genetic, or other factors.
• Physically Restrained: Restraint or restrain refers to a member's use of force to physically restrict the free movement of a person's body.
• Search Warrant: A document issued by the Court authorizing the police to enter and search a person, premises, location or vehicle for purposes of evidence recovery.
• Subject Behavior:

  Subject Behavior: The actions, language, demeanor and conduct exhibited by a person. The behaviors are used to categorize and assess the degree of cooperation, resistance, or threat posed by the person.

  Complying with Orders: The person is following direction or lawful orders given.

  Passively Resisting: The person is not complying with a member’s commands and is uncooperative but is taking only minimal action to prevent a member from placing the person in custody or taking control of the situation. Examples include:

  • Standing stationary and not moving upon lawful direction.
  • Falling limply and refusing to use their power to move (becoming "dead weight").
  • Verbal non-compliance: Using language that signals an intention to avoid or prevent being taken into custody but does not signal an intent to cause physical harm.

  Actively Resisting: The person’s actions are intended to prevent a member from placing the person in custody or taking control of the situation but are not directed at harming the member. A person’s reaction to pain caused by a member, and a person’s purely defensive reactions to force, do not constitute active resistance. Oral statements alone do not constitute active resistance. Examples include:
  • Walking or running away after being informed they are not free to leave, are detained, or are under arrest.
  • Forcefully resisting the member’s grip.
  • Holding onto a fixed object after being given a lawful command to move or let go, in a situation other than a protest or demonstration (P&P 7-805).
  Objectively Imminent Physical Harm:
  Aggressively Resisting or Assaultive: The person displays the intent to imminently harm the member, themselves or another person. Examples include:
  • Taking a fighting stance (such as clenching and raising fists into a boxer pose or a substantially similar action).
  • Punching, kicking, or otherwise striking.
  Aggravated Aggressive Resistance or Aggravated Assault: The person displays the intent to imminently harm the member, themselves or another person, and the person’s actions are likely to result in great bodily harm or death. Examples include:
  • Use of a firearm.
  • Use of a blunt or bladed weapon.
  • Extreme physical force.

• Totality of the Circumstances: All facts known to the member at the time, including the conduct of both the member and the person leading up to the action (such as the use of force).
• Use Weapons and Force Devices: Activating or applying a weapon's or force device's mechanical functions, pointing a weapon, or making contact with a person with the weapon or force device. This includes discharging a weapon such as a firearm, chemical aerosol, or impact projectile launcher, deploying a CEW, performing a CEW warning alert, activating a CEW, laser painting a person, applying handcuffs or restraints, and making bodily contact with a person with a baton or other impact weapon.