Wisconsin Law Enforcement Standards Board (LESB) Phase 2 Practice Exam

When a person shows passive resistance or presents threats, the approach relies on control alternatives—the set of tactics and tools officers use to gain and maintain control with the least amount of force necessary. This framework sits between talking/being present and moving to more intrusive force, providing options that progressively establish compliance and safety. Presence helps deter and dialog aims to de-escalate, but overcoming resistance often requires applying the appropriate control alternatives to secure the situation while still aiming to minimize harm. Protective alternatives and dialog/presence describe different aspects of response, but they aren’t the term used for the concrete set of methods designed to achieve control when resistance or threats are present.