Thread by @Rebeccarivas

The #moleg Special Committee on Criminal Justice hearing is starting.

Watch here. (Click Hearing Room 7): house.mo.gov/MediaCenter.as…

MO legislators will be talking about restricting chokeholds, no knock warrants, and officers "having sexual relations" with inmates. #moleg

Sheriff group rep. saying that there's a difference between vascular and respiratory restraints.

“Respiratory restraint applies direct pressure to the trachea. It should be restricted to the deadly force.”

Advocating to keep both restraints.

.@RobertsforSTL bringing up the case of Tory Sanders, a mentally ill man who went to police for help and was killed when police restrained him. riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/…

State Rep. Wiley Price said Kevin Merritt of Missouri Sheriffs' Association is "splitting hairs" by referring to chokeholds as respiratory or vascular restraints.

Price: If we stop the blood to the brain or stop air to the brain, it has the same result. Both could be deadly.

Merritt said he would apply same restraints on a 12 year old as a 60 year old if they prove to be powerful. Republican Tony Lovasco said this is problematic.

Dem. Rep. Price, "I have never been that terrified of a 12 year old. I am hearing things that are concerning."

.@Dogan4Rep asking Merritt if he thinks state law should prohibit chokeholds except if officers' lives threatened.

Merritt: No, state law cannot encompass all the deadly force techniques. You can kill a person with a flashlight, why just tease out this one technique?

Merritt saying that George Floyd was not killed by a chokehold. Asks legislators: What chokehold was put on Floyd?

Dogan: If a (vascular restraint) was not used on George Floyd, what should happen to the officer who used deadly technique?

Merritt: Said he couldn't comment on Dogan's question. And regarding a state law prohibiting chokeholds, it's up to individual depts on whether or not they want to use chokeholds.

Merritt said allowing officers to use less-than-deadly vascular or respiratory restraints prevents officers from having to use their guns. It saves lives, he said.

Moving on to more public comment. One caller is saying Missouri would benefit from "clear state guidance for law enforcement officers. It will promote more respect from the public, who is saying these horrific law enforcement activity."

A woman caller said she was at a St. Louis city protest and grabbed and choked by an officer from behind. She suffers from seizures & was scared one officers would have thought she was resisting.
"We must pass this reform so chokeholds are not used across our state."

Kemp Shoun, executive dir. of Missouri State Troopers Assoc. said he was horrified by George Floyd's death and no "reputable" agencies would use that technique.

Dem Rep. Wiley Price asking Shoun about training, comparing it to his pit bull's training.

"Even if I have an angelic pit bull and I give it 100 hours on attack and 1 hour of de-escalation. Do you think it would help if we spend a little more time on de-escalation?"

Republican Tony Lovasco asking Shoun about passing state law on chokeholds.

Shoun: If you make legislation to that effect, you will be making it on another technique.

Lovasco: You're saying it's a slippery slope?

Shoun: Part of this is agencies need to take care of business

Shoun: If you have officers who "go rogue," agencies need to take action. We've seen some inequities and maybe some agencies are not doing it the same.

Lovasco: You agree uniform practices is good but you are not willing to going to the leap that it needs to be in statute.

.@RobertsforSTL bringing up the vehicle stop report and disparities. "There's a lot of inherit distrust of police officers." Asking if he would support statewide police misconduct registry to address muni-hopping. You quietly got rid of him, but then just go to neighboring depart

Shoun: "I don't think good law enforcement has any problem with tracking bad law enforcement."

Dem Rep. Roberts: Thoughts on establishing special unit that addresses mental health calls.

Shoun: Officers in rural areas often work alone and lack facilities.

Shoun: saying no-knock warrants are "very rare." It should remain a rarity.

Dem. Rep. Wiley Price points to Breonna Taylor. Officers weren't wearing body cams. Should officers wear cams for no knock warrants?

Shoun: Yes. Not everyone has it available. Going to take funding.

Shoun: sex on duty is one thing. But using your position of authority to gain sex with someone. Don't want officers to arrange sex off duty. If we run into an officer who has this issue, they are going to work around those rules. We don't allow teachers to have relations.

Now they are switching to no-knock warrants. A South County woman is saying SWAT team members shot her dog & held guns to heads telling her "We are here bc your gas was on." (was turned off)
"I can't articulate the trauma it has caused on my family."

*Sorry, her gas was off. Here's a link to story. "St. Louis County Police Department’s SWAT team came with a no-knock warrant for an unpaid gas bill." kmov.com/news/st-louis-…

.@Dogan4Rep asked what was on the search warrant.

Zorich: It had a bunch of codes, electrical code.

Dogan: They didn't accuse you of being dangerous?

Zorich: No, she said. I had a warrant for expired plates. "They were reaching for anything (after the fact.)"

Another article from @tonymess. "In April 2014, the county’s tactical operations unit busted down Angela Zorich’s door at the request of problem properties unit Officer Robert Rinck because their gas had been turned off." stltoday.com/news/local/col…

A new caller is speaking about a raid in Fayette, MO.

https://twitter.com/aclu_mo/status/1325925026093260818?s=20

The caller, a Mr. Evans, said he had never been arrested before the incident. @Dogan4Rep asking Mr. Evans to keep in touch with the committee.

Dem. Rep Wiley Price: "I can't believe I have to hear testimony from black male students, who are trying to better themselves, be bullied by the same people who are supposed to come to his aid, even in the current climate, in the age of George Floyd."

Price: "I think there needs to be a greater discussion about how we are training our police officers. That story just broke my heart. It's starting to feel hopeless out here in Missouri."

Rep. Yolanda Young (D): In the case of Mr. Evans, it was almost so easy for them to do that. We don't have all the information but it appears that it wasn't just one instance. It was shameful what we are seeing, in this climate, the repeated misbehavior of our officers.

Young: I know that the unions have a big role in what is happening with law enforcement but we need to somehow have a meeting of the minds, including those unions to raise the level of accountability. I don't believe in the total immunity or hands off motto.

Rep. Tony Lovasco (R): Rep. Young, I admire your restraint. How can you have a meeting of the minds when no one shows up? We heard testimony that you shouldn't consider the optics. I am beyond frustrating that we are negotiating with people that we should be overseeing.

Dogan: I have been here 6 years and I feel like I've beating my head about police reform. Sometimes those of us who want reform, we can come off as offensive to law enforcement, whether or not it's justified for them to feel that way.

Dogan: The fact that we did have a hearing on these contentious issues in the middle of a special session that has nothing to do with it. Hopefully it will lead to get something passed next year. We can't have another Ferguson.

In his final comments, Rep. Tony Lovasco said the Special Committee on Criminal Justice needs to be continued because there is a lot of work to do. He urged incoming Speaker Rob Vescovo to keep the committee going and "bring us back."