SPD shows behind-the-scenes look at Use of Force training

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - The Savannah Police Department’s use of force policy is in focus after people posted videos on social media criticizing how officers handled a couple of recent arrests. Tuesday, WTOC sat in on a use-of-force training session.

Leaders with SPD explained they’re not trained to kill, they’re trained to eliminate a threat, with an emphasis on ‘objectively reasonable’ use-of-force.

What goes on before and after those videos is what many people don’t get to see. Corporal Tokos explained that legal reasonableness doesn’t require officers to use the least intrusive means of force, but a reasonable means.

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This week, SPD showed us a 3-hour session of what their use-of-force training looks like.

WTOC’s Madalyn Bierster went through a simulator to learn how officers are trained to decide when and how they use force.

Split-second decisions — that’s what Corporal Tokos says officers are expected to make every day, when lives are on the line.

“What the officers learn is the Use of Force case law and how to apply it through case law. It is upon the officers to then understand how to also use our administrative policies and weave them in with the law,” said Savannah Police Department’s Corporal John Tokos.

The foundation of that training comes from a landmark Supreme Court case- Graham versus Connor.

It’s one of many cases that officers are committed to knowing inside and out. This case in particular tells officers to focus on four key things:

• The severity of the crime
• Immediate threat to officers or others
• Resisting
• Fleeing from a lawful arrest

There are more factors that officers take into account, like the number of suspects, time of day, or even the person’s mental state, and prior violent crimes, to name a few.

It’s all about the totality of the circumstances, Cpl. Tokos emphasized.

“Policies may restrict officers more, but they can’t affect or change what the officer is allowed to do within the prescribed Use of Force laws,” said Tokas.

In other words, while department policies might be stricter, they can’t override what the law says an officer can do.

Deadly force is only justified if:

• It’s necessary to prevent escape
• The officer has probable cause that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious injury to them officer or others

Cpl. Tokos says, when deadly force is used, it’s not about the officer’s intentions, whether ‘good or bad’ — it’s about what a reasonable officer would do in that exact moment.

So while hindsight is 20/20, officers are judged only on what they knew and saw in that moment. Not what they felt, or meant behind their actions, but just what the law allows.

Cpl. Tokos explained that he stresses to each officer to be extremely detailed in each report they write, especially with use-of-force incidents.

He says he tells officers to ‘paint a picture of the scene’, so someone who isn’t there has all the information, as if they were.