Police Department Bans Restraint Tactics Amid New Chauvin Videos

Since May 25th of 2020, anything having to do with police restraints have been a hot button issue.  May 25th of 2020 was the day that George Floyd was held under former police officer Derek Chauvin's knee for just shy of 9 minutes.  We all know this story very well

Since that day, there has been much debate on what type of restraints should or should not be used when apprehending a suspect.  When is it appropriate, and how much force should or should not be used?

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There were two more videos of incidents where Chauvin was recorded using those same restraint tactics that were used on Floyd in questionable situations.  When you watch the videos, the tactics seem excessive.  Extremely excessive.  The two people were already restrained when Chauvin was recorded with his knee on the neck. This hold is a hold that is used, but in all three of these incidents, it was excessive force.  Especially considering the length of time.

According to KARE 11, 

The city of Minneapolis agreed to pay a nearly $9 million settlement to two people who were arrested by Chauvin in 2017. The plaintiffs, John Pope Jr. and Zoya Code, said Chauvin restrained them on the ground with his knee on their necks, which was determined to be a contributing factor in Floyd's death.

Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara released a statement regarding the ban of these particular restraints to KARE 11:

In part:

 ...it was further made clear to me how infrequently the MRT had been used within the last year, and when it was used, it was deployed incorrectly most of the time. In fact, in the Code incident, not only had the MRT been deployed on someone who had clearly stopped resisting, the officers applied the device incorrectly and Zoya Code was able to work her way out of the restraint.

This further cemented my decision to unilaterally ban the use of the MRT due to the potential for harm to the restrained individual as well as its ineffectiveness at keeping officers safe.”

There are still questions as to what the accountability will be if these restraint tactics continue to be used without it being necessary.  What will happen?  Verbiage within the manual is being changed, and there is a new police conduct group that will have it's board voted on later this month.

...attorney Abigail Cerra, who also chaired the now-defunct Minneapolis Police Conduct Oversight Commission. The group has since been revamped and is now called the Community Commission on Police Oversight. City councilors will vote to confirm its 15-member board on April 27. 

"This is a really big change that's going to be felt immediately," said Cerra. "And it’s really telling the victims of police violence that we’re listening to you and we’re looking at our practices and finding where we can make changes."

One would think that this would be a hyper sensitive issue with how to proceed. There is new leadership, and hopefully that will be the beginning to making a real difference.