Use of Force Decision-Making and Legal Update
For Law Enforcement Officers and Supervisors in the 9th Circuit
When it comes to policing, there is no more hot-button issue than the way police officers use force, and there is no more challenging place to be a cop than in the 9th Circuit. New case law is established each year dictating how officers are to use force but how are officers supposed to learn those changes? How are they supposed to know how to apply the law in the real high-stress encounters they are facing on the street?
Use of Force Decision-Making and Legal Update
An 8-hour workshop for sworn law enforcement officers and supervisors from agencies in the 9th Circuit including patrol staff and use of force instructors
When it comes to policing, there is no more hot button issue than the way police officers use force and there is no more challenging place to be a cop than in the 9th Circuit. New case law is established each year dictating how officers are to use force but how are officers supposed to learn those changes? How are they supposed to know how to apply the law in the real high-stress encounters they are facing on the street?
Officers are judged not only by how they performed on the street but also by how well they can articulate the reasons for their decisions. That’s why we’ll be hosting a special workshop called Use of Force Decision-Making and Legal Update. This is an intensive 8-hour seminar designed to help officers and supervisors make force decisions that not only work on the street but also survive intense scrutiny on camera and in court. We’re going to examine several key incidents, how the court ruled on those incidents, and what you should be doing because of those rulings.
Join Savage Training Group Founder Scott Savage and guest Instructor Brandon Sontag, President of the California Force Instructors Association, for this unique workshop hosted once in Northern California and once in Southern California.
This Is Not a Law School Lecture
This workshop is intentionally built to avoid what most officers dread: a dry legal dissertation disconnected from real policing.
Instead of memorizing statutes or passively listening to case law summaries, students will learn through guided body worn camera debriefs, real-world scenarios, and practical analysis of how force decisions are actually evaluated.
Participants will examine incidents and learn the practical takeaways they can apply to three key areas:
- Training before an incident
- Decision-making during an incident
- Articulation in statements and in reports after an incident
Practical Takeaways You Can Use Immediately
Students will not leave this workshop with a stack of cases they are expected to decode on their own.
Instead, you’ll leave with:
- An understanding of what happened in the incident
- How that incident played out in court
- The practical lessons learned and exactly how you can apply those lessons tomorrow on patrol
The Research Is Already Done for You
Most cops don’t have time to constantly track evolving statutes, appellate decisions, jury instructions, and national trends in use of force litigation.
That’s why we did the heavy lifting for you!
Both instructors have spent years researching laws and analyzing cases. They are committed to helping officers and supervisors understand how to apply the law in the field and just as importantly how to articulate their decisions afterwards (because let’s face it, cops are terrible at articulation!)
Instruction Grounded in Real Policing
Your instructors for this workshop will be Brandon Sontag and Scott Savage.
Brandon Sontag is the President of the California Force Instructors Association. He spent 18 years with the Santa Ana Police Department before being forced to medically retire last year. Brandon believes many cops fail because no one has shown them how to translate the law into real-time decisions under stress and he has made it his mission to do something about that. His instruction is built around operationalizing legal standards, not reciting them. Officers learn how courts interpret their actions and how to align their decision making with that reality while still doing the job safely and effectively.
Scott Savage is the Founder and CEO of Savage Training Group, an organization created to raise the bar of law enforcement training. Scott retired from the Santa Clara Police Department after serving 24 years as a cop in California. Scott specializes in taking complex subjects and making them easy to understand. He knows that in 2026, officers must not only be skilled at the mechanics of using force but must be equally skilled at articulating their decisions.
What the Workshop Covers
- Use of Force Law in the 9th Circuit
- Civil Liability and Why Agencies Lose
- What Cops Don’t Understand About Qualified Immunity
- What the Law REALLY says About De-escalation
- Creating a Soundtrack on BWC
- Report Writing That Survives Scrutiny
- Body Worn Camera Analysis
- In-Custody Deaths
How the Workshop is Taught
- Body worn camera debriefs
- Case-driven discussion
- Guided discovery rather than lecture
- Practical application tied to patrol reality
Students are not told what to think. They are led to understand why certain decisions hold up and others do not.
Upcoming Presentations:
Why Choose Savage Training Group?
Savage Training Group courses are designed around how officers actually make decisions and how those decisions are judged after the fact. If you are looking for cookie-cutter training that checks a box, this isn’t for you.
We do not separate tactics, communication, and law into artificial silos. We train them the same way courts analyze them: together.
We don’t present vague nice-to-know information or talk about what may have worked 20 years ago. This is current, specific, and expertly researched training designed to help officers perform like pros on patrol and articulate their decisions when it matters most.
Your Instructors:
Guest instructor Brandon Sontag is the President of the California Force Instructors Association. He spent 19 years with the Santa Ana Police Department before being forced to medically retire last year. Brandon believes many cops fail because no one has shown them how to translate the law into real-time decisions under stress and he has made it his mission to do something about that. His instruction is built around operationalizing legal standards, not reciting them. Officers learn how courts interpret their actions and how to align their decision making with that reality while still doing the job safely and effectively.
Scott Savage is the Founder and CEO of Savage Training Group, an organization created to raise the bar of law enforcement training. Scott retired from the Santa Clara Police Department after serving 24 years as a cop in California. Scott specializes in taking complex subjects and making them easy to understand. He knows that in 2026, officers must not only be skilled at the mechanics of using force but must be equally skilled at articulating their decisions. More about Scott