SAN JOSE — In a gesture of transparency, the San Jose Police Department announced Monday it has formally banned the use of chokeholds to subdue a resistant suspect, a point of national controversy since the infamous death of Eric Garner in New York.
SJPD has never permitted chokeholds to be used by its officers. But since Garner’s July 2014 death on a Staten Island street corner at the hands of an NYPD officer, the technique has drawn heavy scrutiny, and eventually a recommendation by LaDoris Cordell, then San Jose’s independent police auditor, to recommend explicitly banishing the technique in the department’s duty manual.
The new policy does offer a pointed distinction: It bars chokeholds as a means of restraint but keeps it available to officers in a life-or-death situation.
“It is our belief that this policy will alleviate the community’s concern over its use as a control technique while providing officers in deadly force situations every available means to survive those encounters,” Interim Chief Eddie Garcia said in a statement.
This does not affect officers using a carotid restraint on a suspect, which can have the appearance of a chokehold since it involves wrapping an arm around someone’s neck. The difference with a carotid restraint is that pressure is applied to the sides of the neck to suppress blood flow and induce fainting, whereas a chokehold applies pressure to a person’s trachea to cut off the air supply.
The latter led to Garner’s reported last words — “I can’t breathe” — becoming a nationwide rally cry for activists decrying police brutality and excessive force. A police officer was restraining Garner after he was contacted for selling loose cigarettes on the street.
In an interview last month, Garcia told this newspaper that even though chokeholds have never been allowed at SJPD, he saw the value in enshrining rules to bolster community trust.
“We have to be progressive. We have to listen to what the community says,” he said. “There are things we can do better, and we have to put policies in place before someone else does it for us.”
Mayor Sam Liccardo commended SJPD and the police union for being responsive to community concerns. Walter Katz, Cordell’s successor as San Jose’s IPA who took office at the beginning of the year, credited the police department for working with his office to draw up a specific policy where there had been none.
“I am optimistic SJPD will continue to be proactive in policy and practice which can only benefit the San Jose Police Department and build trust and confidence with the community,” Katz said in a statement.
Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.
