Sometimes, the above procedures may not diffuse the situation. In these cases, respondents should call 911 immediately and may consider the use of force as a last resort if a potentially dangerous situation is erupting that could cause bodily or other har m. In vesting the University’s Public Safety Office with the authority to use force to protect themselves and others, a careful balance of all human interest is required. Therefore, it is NLU’s policy that the Public Safety Office shall use only that for ce that appears reasonably necessary to effectively bring an incident under control, taking into consideration the totality of the circumstances, while protecting the physical safety of the Public Safety Office employee and/or another individual. The following guidance is provided regarding the use of force: • NLU Public Safety Office employees or other designated respondents (generally, members of the CIRT should assess the incident in order to determine if a use of force technique is necessary to de-escalate an incident and bring it under control in a safe manner. As indicated above, use of force should only be used as a last resort only to: o Defend oneself or another from imminent bodily harm, or o Prevent serious injury when police response is in route and no safter alternative exists. o If responding in a manner that might involve pulling fighting students apart from one another, the respondent should be careful to protect themselves and others from further sensitizing the situation. • The use of force should be limited to NLU Public Safety Office employees or members of the ERT who have been authorized and trained on the necessary and appropriate techniques for resolution of incidents to protect themselves or others from physical harm or to bring an incident safely and effectively under control. • NLU Public Safety Office employees shall take appropriate steps to obtain medical aid whenever there is a use of force incident causing injuries or complaints • Prohibited Actions: Actions that are prohibited in this area include: o No “punishment” force, retaliation, or force used to “teach a lesson.” o No chokeholds, neck restraints, strikes or pain-compliance techniques o No restraint solely for discipline, convenience, or to force compliance with a directive. • Any defensive force must be reasonable and proportionate based on the totality of circumstances and must stop once the threat ends. • If force is used or injury is observed/claimed: call 911 and request medical assistance, and provide basic first aid when training.
Defensive Weapons and Methods •
NLU does not authorize firearms.
• NLU does not authorize impact weapons (including batons, kubatons, or similar tools) for routine operations. • Any exceptions require written authorization by the Vice President of Finance. Reporting Uses of Force • A written report will be required whenever force is used. Such reports shall be retained permanently and shall be immediately reported to the University President. • If there was physical violence, students who were directly involved in the incident MUST be instructed that they are not to return to campus until they have scheduled a meeting with the Office of Student Experience to discuss the student conduct policy. The responding authority is to instruct the students of this expectation during removal from campus. • All reported uses of force will be reviewed by the CIRT to determine whether the use of force policy was properly applied, the policy was clearly understandable to the office and effective to cover the specific situation.
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