Sacramento, Davis Police Suspend Carotid Hold Training
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The Sacramento and Davis police departments announced on Saturday the suspension of the use of carotid hold training a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the hold to be discontinued statewide.
Sacramento police said the suspension of the hold is effective immediately.
"The police department's use of force policy is currently under revision to reflect the changes," the Sacramento Police Department said in a news release.
Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel said that the suspension of the type of hold does not represent a significant change to any current practice as the use of carotid holds and other similar restraints have not been used in the department for at least the last 20 years. Pytel said these types of restraints were only used where deadly force was authorized.
"The death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis only two weeks ago has caused the public, community leaders, elected officials, and law enforcement officers across the nation to re-examine their use of force policies to ensure they meet the most contemporary best practices, ensure the safety of the public and guide officers to come to reasonable outcomes in even the most dangerous of circumstances," said Chief Pytel.
The move to ban neck holds was Newsom's first action following two weeks of protests across the country after the death of George Floyd. Floyd died on Memorial Day after a police officer put his knee on his neck for several minutes.
"I am immediately directing POST, which is our police officers training, to end the training of that practice, and I could not be more pleased," Newsom said in a news conference on Friday. "No sooner did we make a commitment on this proposal that a member of the legislature, Mike Gibson, to his credit, just introduced a piece of legislation that I will support and sign as soon as it gets to my desk to legislatively end that practice in the state of California."