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A total of 2,036 citizen complaints received by large agencies in 2002 were sustained, and may indicate incidents of police use of excessive force. On a per officer basis, this results in 1 incident per 200 full-time sworn officers overall, and nearly 1 per 100 officers responding to calls for service.

Municipal police departments accounted for 1,625 (or 80%) of the total incidents, with slightly higher overall rates on a per officer basis (0.7 per 100 full-time sworn officers, and 1.1 per 100 responding to calls for service).

U.S. Dept. of Justice,
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report, June 2006, NCJ 210296

law enforcement officer
force options

Welcome to LEO force options, a professional organization dedicated to providing specialized Use of Force Options, Consulting, Training and Expert Witness services to law enforcement agencies throughout the country.

It is our aim to act as a resource center for agencies nationwide. We bring to this forum an extensive law enforcement record of service, training and Use of Force expertise, and offer a broad range of services that spans Theory and Application in Use of Force, Case Review, Expert Testimony, Defensive Tactics, Firearm's Training, and more.

We recognize the critical importance that threat assessment and objective reasonableness play in Use of Force matters, and we are committed to the expert and impartial application of pertinent law.

In reviewing felonious assaults on law enforcement officers resulting in death or injury, one common denominator often is conspicuously present—the victim officer hesitated in responding with force. During post–incident review of assaults on police, victim officers often indicated that they were uncertain about what force options were permissible under law or department policy and that they did not perceive their attacker to be a serious threat until it was too late. This hesitation is tragic and often avoidable. —FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin October 2002, section Use-of-Force Policies and Training: A Reasoned Approach (Part One), Volume 71 Number 10

salvador moralez, jr

Salvador Moralez, Jr. is a recognized Use of Force expert in the State of Texas and in federal court. He has an extensive career in law enforcement which spans from 1978 to the present time, and an impressive training and teaching record in the martial arts.

Mr. Moralez has been a member of the Police Tactics Instructors of America (P.T.I.) since 1998, and a trainer of Use of Force Theory & Application as well as Defensive Tactics for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) since 2002. Inclusively, he assisted the TABC in the development and writing of its statewide Use of Force Policy and Procedures.

Mr. Moralez has trained:

• Use of Force and Officer Survival Tactics for the Texas Department of Public Safety Narcotics Unit, Austin, Texas
• Use of Force Theory to Criminal Law Enforcement (CLE) of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Austin, Texas
• Enforcement Agents for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
• Law Enforcement students, Sul Ross University, Austin, Texas
• University of Texas at El Paso Police Department law enforcement officers
• El Paso Regional Sheriff’s Department academy students
• El Paso Police Department SWAT Team
• Game Wardens for Texas Parks & Wildlife

Mr. Moralez has earned two 10^th degree black belts and has been inducted into two national halls of fame: the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame and the Filipino Martial Arts Hall of Fame. He developed a system of counter assault tactics that earned him international recognition and acceptance, and an invitation to teach at the National Police Academy in Manila, Philippines.

You may click Mr. Moralez's biography and resume here for a complete overview of his service and accomplishments. If you would like to speak with Mr. Moralez, you may do so by clicking here.

The focus of policy and training first and foremost must be the determination of whether someone poses a threat.

Use-of-force training based on threat assessment will result in an escalating approach when it is appropriate and a timely response when it is not.

If used effectively, this approach will train officers to immediately cease application of force once a threat is no longer present and eliminate post-arrest punitive force.

It is clear, in both the law and in practice, that the proper approach to the use of force is not all-encompassing restrictions on force or using the escalating force continua as the primary response.

Such dangerous policies place officers at significant and avoidable risk. As the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said in Elliott:

"The Constitution simply does not require police to gamble with their lives in the face of a serious threat of harm"

—neither should their departments.

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, section Use-of-Force Policies and Training: A Reasoned Approach (Part Two), November 2002 Volume 71 Number 11