When Police Use Force
Pub. Safety § 3-524 — the Maryland Use of Force Statute: necessary and proportional, or not at all
Necessary and proportional. A Maryland police officer may not use force against a person unless, under the totality of the circumstances, the force is necessary and proportional to prevent an imminent threat of physical injury to a person, or to carry out a legitimate law enforcement objective.
The officer has to stop using force as soon as the person is under the officer's control, or no longer poses an imminent threat of physical injury or death to the officer or anyone else, or as soon as the officer determines force will no longer accomplish a legitimate objective.
- When time, circumstances and safety allow, take steps to gain compliance and de-escalate without physical force.
- Intervene to prevent or stop another officer's force beyond what the statute allows.
- Give basic first aid to a person injured by police action and promptly request medical help.
- Fully document every use of force the officer saw or was involved in.
Those are duties the statute places on every officer. A supervisor responds to any incident where force caused serious physical injury and gathers and reviews all known video of it, and every agency has to have a written de-escalation policy and review every use of force.
A crime carrying up to 10 years. An officer who intentionally violates the necessary and proportional standard, resulting in serious physical injury or death, is guilty of a misdemeanor carrying up to 10 years, which may run separately from and consecutively to a sentence for any other crime based on the same act.
Sources for this section (1)
- Md. Code, Pub. Safety § 3-524 — Maryland Use of Force Statute
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Maryland attorney.