Over the last four days, I have been inspired by the displays of protest that have filled our streets.
The simple truth is this: we must hear the anguished cries of our Black neighbors who were born into a system where – from the moment of birth – they are forced to bear the weight of 400 years of oppression. They call us to not just see this reality but to be agents of change.
To my fellow residents, I want to say: you should be listening, too. For if we aren’t listening to what our neighbors are saying on the streets – each and every one of us – we are failing not just ourselves, and them, but our city as a whole.
And if we who have been entrusted with public office are not willing to take that which we have heard and then act, the truth is that through inaction we have become knowing accomplices in the crimes of injustice they seek to abolish.
These problems are massive – tumors of hate that have grown largely unchecked for centuries – but no matter how complicated these times may seem, let there be no confusion: we are confronted in this moment with matters of basic morality. Matters of basic right and wrong.
That’s why I want to provide an update on something our community has called for that is the right thing to do: the modernization of our police department’s use of force policy.
To provide background, we implemented an update to IMPD’s use of force policy in 2016, shortly after I took office. Just last week, we also submitted long-needed changes to create the department’s Use of Force Review Board.
But it has been clear in listening to those who have spoken out that our use of force policies can and should be improved. So this morning, Chief Randal Taylor has submitted a new draft use of force policy to the IMPD General Orders Committee.
Here is what it seeks to address:
First, we are updating the department’s standard for using deadly force. Community leaders and other advocates pointed to California’s standard for using deadly force as a national best practice, and we have adopted it wholeheartedly.
First, we are updating the department’s standard for using deadly force. Community leaders and other advocates pointed to California’s standard for using deadly force as a national best practice, and we have adopted it wholeheartedly.
We are proposing that language as our standard verbatim.
Second, we are updating our requirement for identification and warning before deadly force is used to similarly reflect national best practices.
Third, while it’s long been true that IMPD training did not consider the use of chokeholds an appropriate technique, and IMPD officers are not trained to do them, we are explicitly placing that prohibition in the new use-of-force policy.
Fourth, we are providing clearly defined de-escalation requirements: at the recommendation of our Criminal Justice Reform Task Force, IMPD has redoubled efforts to implement de-escalation training for some time.
But while there are de-escalation provisions in our existing General Orders, they largely have referenced issues related to mental health issues. We are now placing those de-escalation guidelines explicitly in the use-of-force policy.
Fifth, we are creating a duty to intervene and report when another officer uses inappropriate force, which was previously required through other mechanisms but now will be explicitly included in our new use of force policy.
Sixth, these new orders include a clear prohinition on shooting into moving vehicles. In addition, this new policy prohibits shooting from a moving vehicle.
Seventh, this new policy requires comprehensive reporting of lethal and non-lethal uses of force. This was already required in existing policy but has been clearly reiterated in the new policy.
Eighth, this new policy clearly specifies rules for using various levels of less-lethal force.
This change contains principles consistent with the continuum of force principles that are currently being discussed nationally and we believe will lead to better outcomes for our officers and the community.
