De-escalation tactics and prohibition of choke holds among list of protocols
Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke, and Healdsburg Mayor Leah Gold released a statement on June 9 on the city’s Facebook page outlining the department’s policing policies and stance on use of force tactics like the carotid control hold (choke hold), which according to Burke, has always been prohibited.
The statement comes on the heels of community concern regarding comments made by Gold at a June 1 city council meeting when she opined that the city council did not need to have a presentation about the Healdsburg Police Department’s use of force policy. Since then, the city has agendized a presentation on the topic set for the next city council meeting on June 15.
According to Gold’s statement, following the peaceful march throughout the city last week, Gold and the city council have received many comments and questions from community members seeking to learn more about the police department’s use of force policies.
“Some of the suggestions have centered around#8cantwait and President Obama’s 2015 efforts to bring policing into the 21st Century,” Gold said in the statement.
“8 Can’t Wait” is a campaign started by Campaign Zero that encourages cities to take action by banning chokeholds and strangleholds; requiring de-escalation; requiring a warning before shooting; requiring exhaustive alternatives before shooting; banning shooting at moving vehicles; requiring a use of force continuum; requiring comprehensive reporting; and requiring officers to intervene and stop excessive force used by other officers and to report those incidents immediately to a supervisor.
“We believe in those principles and are implementing steps remarkably like those suggested for progressive departments. To understand that even better, our police chief has provided the following summary of how far along we are with progressive policing,” Gold said.
Chief’s summary on police policies
● Body worn cameras: “The Healdsburg Police Department implemented a body-worn camera program in 2014, equipping all officers with cameras at that time. In 2015, the department expanded the program to include cameras for all field personnel, including code enforcement and parking enforcement officers. This has significantly enhanced our ability to be transparent and meaningfully review and monitor contacts with the community and use of force by an officer.”
● Bias training: “Diversity training is an important priority for the Healdsburg Police Department and California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). All entry-level police officers receive cultural diversity training in the police academy, and throughout their careers, officers receive updated racial and cultural diversity training on an on-going basis. Topics include procedural justice, implicit bias and cultural diversity. All Healdsburg police officers completed updated diversity and implicit bias training as recently as November 2019.”
● Mental health training: “All officers receive mandated Peace Officer’s Standards and Training (POST) training on interacting with people with a mental illness, an intellectual disability or who have a substance use disorder. Additionally, patrol officers receive training in crisis intervention techniques (C.I.T.). We all know of family members or friends who face challenges like this daily, and we take that with us into our policing.”
● De-Escalation: “As part of the police department’s arrest and control training program, officers receive de-escalation training. Officers use de-escalation techniques whenever possible and use force only when necessary. California law requires that ‘officers utilize de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention tactics and other alternatives to force when reasonable,’ and it requires all officers be trained in alternatives to deadly force and de-escalation techniques. The department embraces these requirements and follows this mandate.”
● Use of force: “The use of force by law enforcement officers is a matter of critical concern to us all. The department and its officers recognize the value of all human life and the dignity of every individual. We understand the trust the community bestows upon the department to use only the force that is reasonable to protect the public welfare. The ultimate objective of every law enforcement encounter is to avoid or minimize injury.”
According to Burke’s summary, the department’s policy outlines several factors that officers must weigh when determining whether or not to apply use of force. See the sidebar for a list of factors.
Burke said that under California law and police department policy, officers may only use the amount of force that reasonably appears necessary given the facts of the circumstances known at the time of the event.
As further stated by Burke, “California law and Police Department policy require ‘where feasible, a peace officer shall, prior to the use of force, make reasonable efforts to identify themselves as a peace officer and to warn that deadly force may be used, unless the officer has objectively reasonable grounds to believe the person is aware of those facts.’”
With that in mind, Burke continued to break down the department’s policies on other protocols such as duty to intervene, and the prohibited use of the carotid control choke hold.
● Duty to intervene: “Officers have a moral, ethical and legal obligation to intercede to prevent the use of unreasonable force when they observe another officer going beyond what is reasonable. Failure to comply with this obligation is misconduct and ground for discipline. Department policy also requires that an officer who observes another employee use force that exceeds the degree permitted by law and policy to promptly report these observations to a supervisor.”
● Shooting at moving vehicles: “Shots fired at or from a moving vehicle are dangerous and rarely effective. Police department policy requires officers to move out of the path of an approaching vehicle instead of discharging their firearm at the vehicle or its occupants. The policy only allows an officer to discharge a firearm at a moving vehicle or its occupants when the officer reasonably believes there are no other means available to avert the threat of the vehicle, or if deadly force other than the vehicle is directed at the officer or others.”
● Carotid control hold (choke hold): “The carotid control hold is a technique used by law enforcement to control a violent and resisting subject. The Healdsburg Police Department expressly prohibits its use. Strangle holds and chokeholds have always been prohibited.”
● Use of force reporting and review: “We oversee a thorough review of each use-of-force incident. The investigation includes the identification and interview of any civilian witnesses. The on-duty watch commander or uninvolved sergeant does the first review before the lieutenant reviews the use of force report. After that, the use of force report then goes to the chief of police. The chief then analyzes the information and the officer’s actions to ensure that the actions uphold the policies and practices we’ve discussed here. We regularly monitor and report the frequency and types of force used.”
● Transparency: “The badge of this police department is a symbol of public faith, and members of this department accept it as a public trust. Trust with the community includes being open and honest about what members of this department do, what they say and what they should be doing. In accordance with California law, the Healdsburg Police Department publishes its policies and procedures as well as all department training outlines on the police department website. We also offer a CitizenRIMS interface so the public can see crime data, arrest information, the department media bulletins, and more.”
Some of these policies, such as “duty to intervene,” “de-escalation,” “use of force reporting,” the prohibition of choke holds, and the department’s encouragement of officers to not shoot at a moving vehicle, follow the steps outlined in the “8 Can’t Wait” campaign.
With all of this noted, Gold said that the city can always do better and that they want to do better.
Burke will give a full presentation on the department’s policies at the next virtual city council meeting on June 15 at 6 p.m.
Information about the police department’s policies and training can be found here: https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/958/Policies-and-Training-SB-978?fbclid=IwAR0hc72zWbQy0NnE1H0GkfoQNlU6wQZ2JYCZkztjLc_v8PUosEcBz5zNmdU.
Gold’s full statement can be read here: https://www.facebook.com/cityofhealdsburg/posts/4465475810132811?__tn__=K-R
Sidebar: Determining when to use use of force:
According to Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke, the factors that officers must weigh when determining whether to use use of force include:
● “The apparent immediacy and severity of the threat to officers or others.”
● “The conduct of the individual being confronted, as reasonably perceived by the officer at the time.”
● “Officer/subject factors, age, size, relative strength, skill level, injuries sustained, level of exhaustion or fatigue, the number of officers available versus subjects.”
● “The conduct of the involved officer.”
● “ The effect of drugs or alcohol.”
● “The individual’s apparent mental state or capacity.”
● “The individual’s apparent ability to understand and comply with officer commands.”
● “Proximity of weapons or dangerous improvised devices.”
● “The degree to which the subject has been effectively restrained and his/her ability to resist despite being restrained.”
● “The availability of other reasonable and feasible options and their possible effectiveness.”
● “Seriousness of the suspected offense or reason for contact with the individual.”
● “Training and experience of the officer.”
● “Potential for injury to officers, suspects, and others.”
● “Whether the person appears to be resisting, attempting to evade arrest by flight, or is attacking the officer.”
● “The risk and reasonably foreseeable consequences of escape.”
● “The apparent need for immediate control of the subject or a prompt resolution of the situation.”
● “Whether the conduct of the individual being confronted no longer reasonably appears to pose an imminent threat to the officer or others.”
● “Prior contacts with the subject or awareness of any propensity for violence.”
● “Any other exigent circumstances.”
