The City of Grand Rapids outlined changes and improvements for its police department.
Within the next 60-days, City of Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne will create policies improving use-of-force protocols. Explicitly banning chokeholds.
“The department has never endorsed this as a practice.”
City Manager Mark Washington says it will be expressly prohibited in department policy. De escalation of potentially violent interactions will also be a priority making sure officers communicate with subjects and keep proper distance minimizing use of force.
“We also want to require our officers to give verbal warnings in all situations where they have to use deadly force. That is a practice that we train on and I want to make sure that our policies are expressly clear on that.”
Less-lethal force alternatives should be exhausted before using lethal force. Shooting at moving vehicles is also off limits.
“That is not a trained technique.”
That’s Police Chief Eric Payne.
“We have to be diligent. Make sure we’re continuing listening to the community out there looking for best-practices and laws effect how we operate.”
Structural changes are also forthcoming based on findings within a deployment study.