The National Police Association Announces New TV PSA Campaign to Address Use of Force

Campaign encourages cooperation with lawful orders: Comply now, complain later.

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Jul 02, 2021, 09:00 ET

INDIANAPOLIS, July 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Police Association (NPA) announced today their latest TV public service announcement, which is the first educational campaign to inform on the dangers of fighting, fleeing, or otherwise refusing to comply with the lawful orders of police officers. The "Comply Now, Complain Later" PSA campaign, urges the public to assist in the reduction of officer use of force by cooperating with lawful orders. The PSA can be viewed on the NPA's YouTube channel, here https://youtu.be/7P2bU9FhKyA

The public can help prevent use of force by police officers. Each year officers are required to use force hundreds of thousands of times to overcome non-compliance with lawful orders. These encounters result in over 50,000 police officers being assaulted on the job each year leading to injuries and death. Police employ force in response to non-compliance with lawful orders. If someone doesn't comply with a lawful order, or uses force against them, police have to use force in response sufficient to obtain compliance. Use of force is always ugly. Nobody likes it, especially police. And nobody knows how it will turn out. The message of this PSA is asking the public to help police by not escalating, not attacking, not fleeing and not trying to disarm an officer. Whether it is getting asked a question, getting a citation or getting arrested, don't confront, don't resist, and don't flee. If someone feels they have been improperly treated by an officer the time to seek a legal resolution is after the encounter has concluded.

The PSA stresses that to eliminate police use of force don't take action that will require police to use force, said National Police Association Spokesperson Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith (Ret.) "This PSA will inform citizens on how resisting arrest, fleeing, and attempting to disarm a police officer places both the police officer and the member of the public in danger and poses a preventable risk for all concerned." The NPA strives to end this behavior, and ensure the dangers this poses to police officers and the public gains more news coverage on a local and national level."

"Comply Now, Complain Later" will be distributed by TV Access to over 1,800 U.S. television cable networks and major market stations.

About The National Police Association
The National Police Association (NPA) is a 501(C)3 non-profit organization, EIN 82-0647764, founded to educate supporters of law enforcement in how to help police departments accomplish their goals. The NPA works to bring national and local attention to the anti-police efforts challenging effective law enforcement, building public support for needed actions through public service announcements, legal filings, articles authored for the NPA by law enforcement experts and the NPA Report. For additional information, please visit www.nationalpolice.org.

SOURCE National Police Association