To determine the impact this ruling has had on departmental policies and procedures, chiefs of police in departments of the 96 largest cities completed a questionnaire. According to their responses, nearly 70 percent of the departments did not have to revise their deadly force policies following Garner. The remaining departments did have to revise their policies, although only a small proportion had the common law rule in effect at the time of the Garner decision. This study found that, in contrast to other policy areas, the Supreme Court actually lagged behind police departments in developing standards to protect individual rights. The Garner decision merely served to bring into compliance those agencies that had yet to meet existing law enforcement norms. The change process effected by Garner can be explained by a number of models: the classic professional model, statutory change, political pressure, court-initiated change, and change in laws regarding civil liability. 2 tables and 26 references