ELK GROVE, Calif — Protesters across the United States and the world have been demanding change and it’s already being seen in some cities in California.
Two more local police departments are banning the use of the carotid hold, also known as a sleeper hold. The Elk Grove and Woodland police departments announced Monday they are both immediately banning their officers from using the carotid hold or neck restraint on suspects.
“In collaboration with the Chief’s Advisory Board (CAB) and in hearing the concerns of the citizens of Elk Grove, we have moved forward in removing and prohibiting this use of force technique from our policy,” Elk Grove Chief of Police Timothy Albright said in a statement.
“We strive to provide quality service to our community, and we acknowledge the continual need to review our policies to ensure those same policies are reflective of our diverse community and our department’s Mission, Vision, and Values,” he added.
The Woodland Police Department also made the announcement Monday on its Facebook page that it suspended use of the “carotid restraint” on Thursday.
Police officials said the decision was made after getting notifications from the California Department of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), saying that the carotid restraint hold would no longer be taught in police academies.
“Agencies were directed to remove this technique from any further department POST trainings,” Woodland police officials said in the post.
Elk Grove and Woodland joined Davis and the Sacramento police departments in ending carotid restraints immediately. The decisions come after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered police academies to stop teaching the carotid hold a week ago.
Since then, California police academies have agreed stop teaching them and Newsom says he'll also back a bill to ban them.
"At the end of the day, the carotid hold that literally is designed to stop people's blood from flowing into their brain, that has no place any longer in 21st-century practices,” Newsom said.
The hold puts pressure on the side of the neck and blocks blood flow to the brain. It came under scrutiny following George Floyd's death when a Minneapolis officer held his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing. Although it was not the method used on Floyd, it sparked calls across the world for police reform.
In the meantime, according to Timothy Davis, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, the ban will make some things more difficult for officers because it's only used when it's needed, and it may result in officers getting hurt.
“It will make it more difficult for them in some circumstances,” Davis said. "If you take that away those are situations where officers may be injured because they don't have it as a tool or they'll have to use a different form of force to take the violent resister into custody, and that form may cause more significant injuries than the carotid would. You know they may have to use their firearm or a taser or a baton, Davis said.
State lawmakers on Monday backed making the "sleeper hold" illegal statewide. The proposal appears to go beyond any other state. Major law enforcement groups haven’t announced if they will oppose the move.
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