Police use of force has been in the news recently locally and nationally - and under scrutiny - for several months now, following high-profile cases in Wilmington and more recently in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Delaware Public Media’s Megan Pauly spoke with use of force expert Michael Levine about how use of force is defined at the federal level, and his experience with compliance at the state level.
Levine is a 25-year veteran of the DEA and has been a police-involved shooting expert for two district attorneys offices in Georgia and testified in criminal indictments against police for the unlawful use of deadly force.
Additionally, Levine’s consulted on hundreds of cases nationwide in cases involving use of force. He emphasizes that use of force must always be a last resort, but says that standard can be hard to pin down.
“There are a number of police who are hired whose fear level is too low to be policemen," Levine said. "They’re frightened and they’re trigger happy. In those cases it’s a little tough because you have to judge and say,is… this officer says he feared for his life but is that reasonable?”
Levine says he was in dangerous and violent situations regularly, but abstained from deadly use of force even when it would have been justified.
He adds he reviews cases as an expert through the lens of someone who’s been there himself.