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maintain public safety. Their evaluation must account for the size
or strength of any suspects, the amount of resistance exhibited
by those individuals, and other factors such as whether anyone
has weapons or the number of bystanders at the scene.

“You’re constantly processing ‘how good is this going? Is
this not going so well? Am I not able to control the subject? This
isn’t working, what am I going to do next?” explains Travis Ten-
nill, who trains Kentucky police offi cers in use-of-force tactics.
“In a dynamic situation when someone is actively, aggressively
trying to hurt you or kill you, it’s a very diffi cult situation to be in.” 5
Police offi cers are trained to classify the actions of a subject
into one of four categories in order to quickly determine what
level of force is appropriate or necessary. The easiest subjects
for police to handle are deemed passive compliant. These sub-
jects recognize the police offi cer’s authority and obey verbal com-
mands. A passive resistor refuses to follow verbal commands but
does not fi ght back when an offi cer attempts to take control with
soft empty hand techniques. In both cases, the offi cer can gain

control of the situation by staying at the lower levels of the use of
force continuum.
An active resistor is a subject who does not obey the offi cer’s
commands and resists when the offi cer tries to take physical
control. However, the active resistor fi ghts back in a defensive
way; this is a person trying to break away from offi cers or other-
wise elude capture. Hard empty hand techniques and intermedi-
ate weapons are often necessary to subdue an active resistor.
Active aggressors are not just trying to get away, they are trying
to hurt or kill the police offi cer or other civilians. If intermediate
weapons are not effective, deadly force may be required to pro-
tect the offi cer and the public from an active aggressor.
Thankfully, offi cers do not regularly need to resort to deadly
force. Studies show that more than 90 percent of police offi cers
go through their entire careers without discharging their weap-
ons. Joseph Loughlin and Kate Flora, authors of Shots Fired: The

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