An honest look at police abuses of force

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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A new study from a national group of law enforcement leaders offers smart advice about changing officers’ approach to the use of restraints. In an examination of more than 1,000 deaths over a decade, journalist researchers found that cops must change how they use force to subdue someone — that making those changes will save lives.

The national Police Executive Research Forum released a set of 15 “principles“ to guide law enforcement agencies on how they can reduce the risks of deaths involving police restraint. The organization noted that the Associated Press and its reporting partners collected the data, investigated the circumstances and inspired their report.

The study specifically examined what happened when cops used restraints that were supposed to keep someone under control without killing them. The most well-known of those kinds of cases is that of George Floyd, who tragically died under the restraint of a Minneapolis Police Department officer in 2020. His murder reignited policing reform efforts around the nation.

Deaths that the AP studied happened across the country and involved a range of people from different backgrounds, though Black people were disproportionately represented. In hundreds of cases, officers weren’t taught or didn’t follow strategies that were already in their policy manuals.

Among the study’s wise recommendations for policies on officer actions: De-escalate situations when possible. But at a minimum, don’t escalate — understand that the goal is to control, not necessarily to completely immobilize, the person, and make sure that officers know how to monitor a person’s condition during and after restraint. The forum also stressed improved communication and coordination with medical responders.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara praised the report and said it is unique in that it specifically addressed restraint-related deaths. The chief, who serves on the Research Forum’s board, said he agrees with the principles and that some of them are already part of MPD training and department policy.

O’Hara said that things like banning chokeholds and “no knock“ warrants had already become department policy before he arrived in 2022. And since he’s been chief, he has banned what amounts to hogtying a person as a means of restraint. He has a team that is looking at other report recommendations and ways to implement them.

”There are still officers who think if someone can talk, they can breathe,“ he said. “But that’s just not true.“ In a number of situations, he added, they “are not suspects, they are patients“ who are having mental or physical health issues.

The use-of-force study calls many areas in its principles “consistent blind spots“ for police in situations that involve restraints. ”Over and over,“ the report concludes, ”many have seen officers neglect to turn people onto their sides once handcuffed, insist on immobility instead of control, fail to monitor a person’s breathing closely, and, at times, fail to take seriously statements that a person cannot breathe. Poor coordination and communication between dispatchers and officers, dispatchers and EMS, and officers and EMS are also regular occurrences … .”

The report takes an honest look at what officers have done wrong, and it correctly urges law enforcement to follow the recommendations — reinforcing the case that restraints must be used sparingly and carefully. Doing so, as the Research Forum notes, will indeed save lives.