Duty to Render Medical Aid and Use of Force Portal Reporting Within 24 Hours; Command-Level Review

Duty to Render Medical Aid After Use of Force

The sixth core principle of the 2022 NJ AG Use of Force Policy is the duty to render medical aid. The moment force ends — and regardless of whether the subject complains of injury — the officer must take affirmative steps to assess and address the subject's medical condition. This duty is not optional and is not contingent on the subject's request; the officer must act because subjects may be unable or unwilling to articulate injuries, especially after CEW application, OC exposure, or strikes.

The Medical-Aid Sequence

1. Assess — As soon as it is tactically safe, the officer must visually and verbally assess the subject for injury: breathing, consciousness, bleeding, signs of distress, complaint of pain. The assessment must be documented.
2. Request EMS — If the subject is injured, complains of injury, shows distress, or was subjected to force with a known injury risk (CEW probe strikes to sensitive areas, baton strikes, OC spray with respiratory distress, prolonged struggle), the officer must request EMS. When in doubt, request EMS — the policy favors erring on the side of medical evaluation.
3. Provide first aid consistent with training — Until EMS or other medical personnel arrive, the officer must provide first aid consistent with their training: control bleeding, position the subject for breathing (e.g., recovery position, avoid prone positional asphyxia), monitor consciousness, and apply agency-issued medical aids (e.g., Naloxone for opioid exposure, decontamination for OC).
4. Continuous monitoring — The officer must continue monitoring the subject until medical personnel assume care or the subject is released. A subject who initially appears uninjured can deteriorate; ongoing observation is required.

Special Medical Considerations

• Positional asphyxia — subjects placed prone and restrained (especially obese, intoxicated, or agitated subjects) are at risk of positional asphyxia. Officers must avoid prolonged prone restraint and must position the subject to allow breathing.
• CEW (Taser) probes — probes embedded in sensitive areas (face, neck, groin, female breast, directly over the spine) require medical removal by trained personnel, not field removal by the officer.
• OC spray — exposure can aggravate respiratory conditions; subjects with asthma or other respiratory compromise require medical evaluation.
• Excited delirium / agitated collapse — subjects in a state of extreme agitation after force are at elevated risk of sudden collapse and require prompt medical evaluation, not mere restraint.

Why the LEE Tests Medical Aid

The LEE will give a fact pattern in which an officer uses force, gains control, and then either (a) immediately transports the subject to jail, (b) leaves the subject unmonitored, or (c) ignores complaints of pain. The correct answer is that the officer failed to render medical aid in violation of the sixth principle. The trap answer is that the subject was not visibly bleeding, so no aid was required — the duty is not limited to visible bleeding and attaches after any use of force.

Use of Force Portal Reporting Within 24 Hours

The seventh core principle is the duty to report. The 2022 policy requires every use-of-force incident to be documented and reported through the NJ Use of Force Portal (UFP) within 24 hours of the incident. The UFP is a statewide, centralized, electronic system managed by the AG's Office that collects uniform data on every use-of-force event in New Jersey.

What Counts as a Reportable Use of Force

The 2022 policy expanded the definition of reportable force. The following must be entered in the UFP within 24 hours:

• Any physical force beyond un-resisted escorting or guiding (compliance holds, strikes, takedowns, OC, CEW, baton).
• Pointing a firearm at a person — even if no shot is fired, this is a reportable use of force under the 2022 policy. This is a frequently tested expansion.
• Deadly force — any discharge of a firearm, whether or not it strikes a person.
• Any force resulting in injury or complaint of injury.
• Canine (K-9) apprehensions that involve a bite or physical contact.

The 24-Hour Deadline

The 24-hour deadline runs from the time of the use-of-force incident. If the officer's shift ends before the report is filed, the officer must still file it — the deadline is not shifted to the next tour. Supervisors are responsible for ensuring the report is filed on time. Failure to report within 24 hours is a separate violation, regardless of whether the underlying force was justified.

Command-Level Review

Every reported use-of-force incident triggers a command-level review:

• Supervisor review — a supervisor must review each UFP entry for completeness, accuracy, and policy compliance, and must respond to the scene of serious uses of force when feasible.
• Command-level review — for higher-tier force (deadly force, CEW discharge, baton strikes, any force causing injury requiring hospitalization, canine bites, firearm pointings), an agency command officer (typically a lieutenant or above) must conduct an elevated review assessing whether the force was within policy, whether training or tactical improvements are warranted, and whether further investigation is needed.
• Trend tracking — agencies must aggregate UFP data to identify officer-level, unit-level, and agency-level trends. Repeated use-of-force incidents by an individual officer can trigger additional review, training, or intervention.
• Public transparency — UFP data is published in aggregated form by the AG's Office, making NJ use-of-force data publicly accessible. Agencies cannot opt out.

Consequences of Failure to Report

Failure to render medical aid and failure to report within 24 hours are each separately disciplinable and can lead to:

• Departmental discipline up to and including termination.
• Official misconduct charges under NJ law (2C:30-2) — an officer who knowingly fails to report a use-of-force incident can be charged with a crime.
• Civil liability for harm caused by the failure to act.

Common LEE Trap Questions

Trap 1: Pointing a firearm is not reportable. A question asks whether pointing a firearm at a person requires UFP entry. The trap is to answer no (because no shot was fired). The correct answer is yes — the 2022 policy treats pointing a firearm at a person as a reportable use of force.

Trap 2: The 24-hour clock starts at end of shift. A question describes an officer whose shift ends 2 hours after a use-of-force incident. The trap is that the officer can file the UFP report on the next tour. The correct answer is that the 24-hour deadline runs from the incident, not the shift end.

Trap 3: Visible bleeding required for medical aid. A question describes an officer who uses a CEW and then transports the subject without medical evaluation. The trap is that no aid was required because the subject was not bleeding. The correct answer is that the duty to render medical aid attaches after any use of force and is not limited to visible bleeding.