Manatee County cops aren’t all required to intervene if fellow officer uses excessive force
While none of Manatee County’s largest law enforcement agencies allow neck restraints, some of the policies are more detailed than others — but only one agency now requires an officer to intervene if a fellow officer is using excessive force.
Since the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as three others failed to intervene, agencies across the country have been called on to change outdated policies.
“We don’t allow neck restrains or chokeholds of any kind so that to see that officer with his knee on the neck of a handcuffed person for almost nine minutes was just horrific,” Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said. “I think we all had the same feeling inside our gut, knowing that that was evil and I don’t know if that is taught in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but it’s not taught here.”
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office policy does not specifically state choke holds are prohibited. The Bradenton and Palmetto police departments policies do. Under pressure, agencies across the country have begun updating their policies to be more specific.
But since Floyd’s death, only the Bradenton Police Department’s use of force policy has been updated to clarify an officer’s duty to intervene if another officer is seen using excessive force. The sheriff’s office and Palmetto police have no requirement in their orders that officers intervene or report in cases of use of force.
As of June 2, Bradenton police officers are to “immediately report excessive force verbally to a supervisor.”
Supervisors are then required to document any report of excessive force and follow the procedures laid by the department’s general orders.
The department’s use of force of order already required that “all officers have a duty to intervene, to prevent, or stop the use of excessive force by another officer when it is safe and reasonable to do so,” when it was last updated in July 2018.
“We said that before but I wanted to clarify that because I want to be absolutely certain my officers understand what their duties are,” Police Chief Melanie Bevan told the Bradenton Herald.
Meanwhile, Wells said the sheriff’s office is looking at its use of force general order again. The policies were last updated in April.
“What we are doing is we are going back and dissecting use of force policies to make sure that the language is very clear so there is no misinterpretation of that,” Wells said. “We are looking at other areas, to see how their policies are written and the language that’s used. We want not only the deputies to understand where we stand but the community and the media when they want a copy of those policies.”
Palmetto Chief of Police Scott Tyler also says he is making sure the language in his department’s order is clear to officers.
“We just in an in abundance of caution, not only verbally reinforced that with our officers, but made sure that the language is absolutely clear that this is not an acceptable control technique,” Tyler said.
Current neck restraint policies
While they may differ in their wording or specificity, neck restraints are forbidden.
From the Palmetto Police Department: “Choke holds and neck restraints are prohibited as physical control techniques. Officers will not intentionally sit, kneel, or stand on a subject’s head or neck.”
Choke holds can be dangerous is not applied correctly, Tyler explained.
“When you start dealing with neck holds ... you really have to know how to apply them. You have to be an expert in it,” he said. “A lot of times, the training our officers get, they may not be martial artists. It’s really just a risk we are not willing to take. There are other ways that we can physically control a suspect if we need to.”
In Bradenton, the policy takes it further saying, “Officers shall not, at any time, obstruct the breathing or carotid blood flow of a person by applying any pressure to the neck area, obstruction or chokehold unless to prevent immediate death or great bodily harm to another human being.”
The sheriff’s office, unlike the Bradenton and Palmetto police, does not elaborate on what is defined as neck restraints.
“Neck restraint techniques are prohibited and are not taught by this agency and as such, these techniques are not included in any in-service training.”
The general order later goes on to make clear that despite neck restraints being in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission curriculum, they “are prohibited by this agency unless it is a life or death situation that would justify the use of deadly lethal force.”
Body cameras on the horizon
Local law enforcement agencies say the cost associated with purchasing body cameras, storing footage and processing public records requests for that footage has prohibited them for getting body cameras.
But suddenly, the price tag is no longer an excuse as pressure builds across the country to hold law enforcement agencies accountable for what officers do.
“I think the body cameras can go a long way in bridging that trust and giving transparency and a little bit more confidence in their police department,” Tyler said.
Tyler, Bevan and Wells each confirmed that they have been in talks about how to bring body cameras to their agencies.
“I expressed to them my desire to really get serious about funding body cameras,” Wells said. “They agreed that that was a good decision and they want to be part of that.”
Wells said he has already begun talking to county commissioners in hopes of getting the funding.
“I think people agree that we need to get this done and we need to get it done quickly,” Wells said. “I think we will be funding body cameras in the very near future. We’re already in talks to different vendors. We want to make sure we get the best that work for my deputies that capture everything that is going on around them.”
In addition to providing accountability, Wells hopes that body cameras could also help show the public what deputies face on the job every day. Tyler also hopes cameras can provide an educational component.
Likewise, Tyler has found that people who have contact with officers tend to behave better when they know they are being recorded.
“We know that nationally, we’ve seen studies that it cuts down on officers’ response to resistance, use of force, because I think people tend to act a little more reasonably when they know they are being videotaped,” Tyler said. “It tends to lower incidents of complaints against officers. It tends to lower officers sustained complaints.”
Tyler explained how the three agencies are looking at the possibility of finding a system that works for them all so that they can be bought in bulk, making it more affordable for each agency.
But Bevan said she will not hesitate to go it alone, if necessary.
“It’s more important that we get the right camera that fits within this community,” she said. “I am not going cheap.”
This story was originally published June 27, 2020 at 12:31 PM.
