Legally, officers have the authority to use force to protect themselves and others from harm. The use of force only allows use within the standards of reasonableness. In the United States, the use of force is known as the use-of-force continuum, which provides law enforcement officers with guidelines that govern how much force is allowed to be used against a person in a given situation. The use of force continuum has five levels: officer presence, verbal commands, empty hand control, less lethal methods, and deadly force. Officers are not required to follow the different levels of the use-of-force continuum any particular order. Police brutality is a serious issue within the realm of police use of force, which goes against the standards of