In his latest blog post, Mayor Friedberg discusses “Continuous Improvement and Best Practices in Police Use of Force”.
He states that “Bellaire’s use of force policy is grounded in an express statement of respect for the sanctity of human life and is for the protection of everyone involved in a police encounter. The use of force is limited to only that which “is reasonably necessary to effectively bring an incident under control while protecting the lives of the officers and others.” Policies that are now being urged for adoption by cities nationwide have already largely been incorporated in the Department’s general orders.
Carotid control holds, or choke holds, are expressly prohibited in Bellaire except in the officer’s self-defense or defense of another person from an imminent threat of serious physical injury or death, and when the use of deadly force would otherwise be authorized. Bellaire officers also receive training on de-escalation strategies every two years, to promote the safe resolution of incidents by verbal rather than physical means. Moreover, officers are trained to recognize and have an affirmative duty to intervene should they ever observe another officer using force greater than is objectively reasonable in the circumstances. Our new state-of-the-art police station features a dedicated de-escalation training room, underscoring the Department’s commitment to officer proficiency in avoiding deadly force situations.”
The Mayor explains that, “the work of continuous improvement is never done, and the Bellaire Police Department treats its use of force policy, and all general orders, as a living document subject to further updates as better ways of doing things are identified.”
Read the Mayors full blog post HERE.
