Raleigh police to ban chokeholds and strangleholds

Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown announced her intention to ban the use of strangleholds and chokeholds by Raleigh police.

“Our policy speaks to chokeholds and lateral vascular neck restraints as significant use of force, and could be considered use of deadly force," she said.

She said the policy always said to avoid these holds but never officially banned them.

"Today," she said, "we will begin recrafting this policy to ban chokeholds and strangleholds.”

Deck-Brown said Raleigh meets five of the eight policies. The remaining three, she said, are addressed in training, but are not explicit department policy.

Deck-Brown addressed each point where RPD failed to meet the standards of Campaign Zero.

"Our policy references the need to evaluate to determine the need to escalate the force used, to de-escalate the force used, or disengage from the use of force. There is clearly room to improve this policy as well, as there are other opportunities where de-escalation may be a greater advantage where there is no issue of force at all," she said.

"Our policy prohibits shooting at a moving vehicle except in limited circumstances. For example, when there’s a deadly threat from inside the vehicle or when an officer or third party is in the path of the vehicle," said Deck-Brown.

Deck-Brown agreed to ban the use of these holds.

Deck-Brown said in the areas where the RPD did not meet the "Eight Can't Wait" standard, the department would re-evaluate all of their policies to ensure they were using the best practices possible.

He listed three action items that citizens could expect to see.

1. "We are going to conduct an events review report. We will conduct a full review of all the events of the last 10 days, with a special focus of the events on Saturday, May 30, and Sunday May 31. The report will include a summary of the incidents, the use of force and rationale, resources used at the events and areas identified for improvement moving forward," he said.

2. "We are going to bring in an outside panel of experts. Outside law enforcement expert group will conduct an independent review of recent events. The purpose is to objectively review our response and provide a comprehensive assessment of our actions," he said.

3. "Our entire city staff is supportive and open to receiving feedback from the Police Advisory Board once they’re appointed," he said.

Raleigh also approved Deck-Brown's request for an independent review of how RPD responded to protests and riots in downtown Raleigh, including the use of tear gas and rubber bullets.

Raleigh approves external review of police response to protests, riots

Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin made a motion of support for the policy changes, saying the changes would "happen immediately."

She said, "We don't usually take votes during work sessions, but this was 'an important first step.'"

"Over the last several days, the City of Raleigh has experienced unprecedented times regarding what began as a peaceful rally and march that suddenly shifted to individuals storming the Wake County Public Safety Center and the deployment of tear gas by another law enforcement agency. This initial deployment of gas exacerbated conditions that created volatile circumstances for hours to come. While several events left our communities vulnerable, the priority of the Raleigh Police Department was and will continue to protect and to save lives. These events will forever change the individuals who live, work, play and learn in this city. As I previously mentioned during several press conferences, there are ongoing investigations into the various activities that occurred during that time. As the peaceful protests are still ongoing, the criminal investigations are ongoing as well. We are still identifying officers who were assaulted during these events. Additionally, we continue to evaluate any officer misconduct that may have occurred during this time as well.

"Such complexities should afford us to take a multi-faceted approach to assessing our overall response to this most unique exercise of engagement in our city. Therefore, I am requesting your support to seek an outside source of experts who can review and assess the recent events in relation to our policy and best practices under such circumstances.

"The purpose of my request is to provide an objective review of the department’s response to the civil unrest that took place following the incident in Minneapolis. In the interest of accountability and transparency, the Raleigh Police Department is committed to ensuring that we are utilizing best practices, tactics, and strategies when responding to civil unrest. The independent review and assessment will be used in conjunction with our internal review to provide a comprehensive assessment of our actions and responsiveness.

"As an organization that strives to identify opportunities for improvement, it is important to embrace critical review to increase organizational integrity and public credibility. This will enable us to determine action steps based on facts and objective reasoning to maintain a safe, vibrant and healthy community.

"The RPD is a progressive agency. Yet, we understand there is always room for improvement. Therefore, the Raleigh Police Department is committed to learning from this crisis and anticipate finding areas to enhance our response moving forward. Nevertheless, our agency is committed to learn from this unfortunate experience. It is important to say that these events have impacted the men and women who give so much of themselves to serving others in this city as well. Moving forward, I am confident that as a nation, we will turn all these experiences that will not only make us a better agency but a better community as well. Lastly, it is my personal belief that reform begins with us."

The entire City Council meeting can be found online.