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Last Revised:
 22 September, 1999

Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials

Adopted by the Eighth Crime Congress, Havana, 27 August-7 September 1990

General provisions

Governments and law enforcement agencies shall adopt and implement rules and regulations on the use of force and firearms against persons bylaw enforcement officials and keep associated ethical issues constantly under review.

Governments and law enforcement agencies should develop a range of means as broad as possible and equip law enforcement officials with various types of weapons and ammunition allowing for differentiated use of force and firearms, to include non-lethal incapacitating weapons, with a view to increasingly restraining applications of means causing death or injury.

Development and deployment of non-lethal incapacitating weapons should be carefully evaluated to minimize the risk of endangering uninvolved persons, and use should be carefully controlled.

In carrying out their duty, law enforcement officials shall as far as possible apply nonviolent means before resorting to force and firearms. They may use force and firearms only if other means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended result.

Whenever lawful use of force and firearms is unavoidable, law enforcement officials shall:

1. Exercise restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense and the legitimate objective;
2. Minimize damage and injury, and respect and preserve human life;
3. Ensure that assistance and medical aid are rendered to any injured or affected persons at the earliest possible moment;
4. Ensure that relatives or close friends of the injured or affected person are notified at the earliest moment.

Where injury or death is caused by the use of force and firearms bylaw enforcement officials, they shall report the incident promptly to their superior.

Governments shall ensure that arbitrary or abusive use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials is punished as a criminal offense under their law.

Exceptional circumstances, such as internal political instability or any other public emergency, may not be invoked to justify any departure from these basic principles.

Special provisions

Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defense or defense of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives.

In the circumstances provided for under the above principle, law enforcement officials shall identify themselves as such and give a clear warning of their intent to use firearms, with sufficient time for the warning to be observed, unless to do so would unduly place the law enforcement officials at risk or would create a risk of death or serious harm to other persons, or would be clearly inappropriate or pointless in the circumstances of the incident.

Rules and regulations should include guidelines that:

1. Specify the circumstances under which law enforcement officials are authorized to carry firearms and prescribe the types of firearms and ammunition permitted;
2. Ensure that firearms are used only in appropriate circumstances and in a manner likely to decrease the risk of unnecessary harm;
3. Prohibit the use of firearms and ammunition that cause unwarranted injury or present an unwarranted risk;
4. Regulate the control, storage and issuing of firearms, including procedures for ensuring that law enforcement officials are accountable for the firearms and ammunition issued to them;
5. Provide for warnings to be given, if appropriate, when firearms are to be discharged;
6. Provide for a system of reporting whenever law enforcement officials use firearms in the performance of their duty.

Policing unlawful assemblies

As everyone is allowed to participate in lawful and peaceful assemblies, Governments and law enforcement agencies and officials shall recognize that force and firearms may be used only in accord with the following two principles:

1. In the dispersal of assemblies that are unlawful but nonviolent, law enforcement officials shall avoid the use of force or, where that is not practicable, shall restrict force used to the minimum necessary;
2. In the dispersal of violent assemblies, firearms may be used only when less dangerous means are not practicable and only to the minimum extent necessary.

Policing persons in custody or detention

Law enforcement officials shall not use force in relations with persons in custody or detention except when strictly necessary for the maintenance of security and order within the institution, or when personal safety is threatened.

They shall not use firearms in such relations except in self-defense or in the defense of others against the immediate threat of death or serious injury, or when strictly necessary to prevent the escape of a person in custody or detention who presents an imminent threat.

Qualifications, training and counseling

All law enforcement officials are to be selected by proper screening procedures, have appropriate moral, psychological and physical qualities for effective exercise of their functions and receive continuous professional training. Their continued fitness to perform should be subject to periodic review.

Law enforcement officials are to be trained and tested in accord with appropriate proficiency standards in the use of force. Those required to carry firearms should be authorized to do so only upon completion of special training in their use.

Questions of police ethics and human rights shall be given special attention in the training of law enforcement officials, including the peaceful settlement of conflicts, the understanding of crowd behavior, and methods of persuasion, negotiation and mediation. Law enforcement agencies should review their training programs and operational procedures in the light of particular incidents.

Stress counseling should be made available to law enforcement officials who are involved in situations where force and firearms are used.

Reporting and review procedures

Effective reporting and review procedures are to be established for all incidents where use of force or firearms causes injury or death or when firearms are used in the performance of law enforcement. An effective review process is to be available and independent administrative or prosecutorial authorities are to be in a position to exercise jurisdiction in appropriate circumstances. In cases of death and serious injury or other grave consequences, a detailed report shall be sent promptly to the competent authorities.

Persons affected by the use of force and firearms or their legal representatives shall have access to an independent process, including a judicial process. In the event of the death of such persons, this provision shall apply to their dependents.

Superior officers are to be held responsible if they know, or should have known, that law enforcement officials under their command are resorting, or have resorted, to unlawful use of force and firearms, and they did not take all measures in their power to prevent, suppress or report such use.

No criminal or disciplinary sanction is to be imposed on law enforcement officials who, in compliance with the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and these basic principles, refuse to carry out an order to use force or firearms, or who report such use by other officials.

Obedience to superior orders shall be no defense if law enforcement officials knew that an order to use force and firearms resulting in the death or serious injury of a person was manifestly unlawful and had a reasonable opportunity to refuse to follow it. In any case, responsibility also rests on the superiors who gave the unlawful orders.

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