A Tennessee police department is changing how it refers to lawful force used by an officer during emergency calls and other incidents.
Gone is "use of force" for Nashville police officers. The term "response to resisitance" will replace it in reports, policies and other documents, WKRN-TV reports.
The change was brought up and explained during the city's Community Review Board meeting Monday. Precinct Commander Carlos Lara says the new terminology more accurately describes situations in which lawful force is used, and more departments around the country are incorporating it in their policies.
"During an encounter where an officer uses lawful force, they are reacting to the level of resistance with which they are confronted, so really, nothing has changed other than the verbiage," said Lara.
"It’s directly related to the unlawful resistance from a subject," he added. "So it just kind of tells you what resistance—what reaction—you are taking to whatever resistance you are receiving."
Board members questioned whether "response to resistance" properly described instances in which officers initiated force. Lara said that the new term only applied to lawful force used by officers.
"If somebody goes out of the scope of what they’re supposed to be doing, that’s a completely different situation," he said.
Although the policy is already in place, Lara and the board said they would try to find out what led to the change in terminology.
