Under a new agreement in Minneapolis, police will no longer be able to perform chokeholds on suspects and officers must intervene and report their colleagues if they see them placing the excessive force maneuver on anyone.
The policy change resulted from an agreement with the city and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which had started a civil rights investigation this week after George Floyd died after an officer kneeled on his neck. The Minneapolis city council is scheduled to approve the measure on Friday.
The agreement requires officers to report to a commander anytime they see a chokehold or neck restraint is being used. And officers who see the chokehold, neck restraint, or any other excessive force maneuver, must try to verbally and physically stop it. Any officer who doesn't report the act or intervene to stop it would face punishment as if they used excessive force themselves.
The agreement will also require the police chief or an appointed deputy chief to authorize the use of chemical agents, rubber bullets, batons, flash-bangs or any other crowd control weapons. It also mandates superiors to weigh in more quickly on whether to discipline an officer.
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