Story at a glance
- The Miami-Dade Police Department has effectively banned the use of chokeholds to subdue people.
- This follows the death of George Floyd, who died after a police officer kneeled on his neck for over eight minutes.
Miami-Dade police, the largest law enforcement agency in the Southeast U.S., has banned the controversial use of chokeholds, effective immediately, following community appeals and renewed demands for measures to end police brutality, the Miami Herald reports.
Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez confirmed in a series of tweets Thursday that he decided to do away with the policy after speaking with experts and community members, according to the Miami Herald.
Miami-Dade police were one of only a few in South Florida that continued to allow officers to use the controversial neck restraint, a practice many consider dangerous and outdated.
The policy change comes as calls for structural reform and police accountability reverberate across the country. Protests have swept the country and the world after the death of George Floyd, a black man who was asphyxiated when a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes during an arrest.
Miami-Dade police join other municipalities in beginning to make some changes amid demands to address police brutality and systemic racism. Some cities have removed and banned Confederate iconography, and others are moving to implement police reforms.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Barbara Jordan joined a chorus of voices demanding a ban of the controversial practice.
“The neck restraint can cut off breathing and it can also paralyze,” Jordan said, per the Herald. “To me, it’s inhumane to even apply it.”
Jordan recently introduced the idea of a civilian oversight panel, as well as broader county police reforms.
Ramirez also tweeted a picture of a press release announcing the ban on “chokeholds and strangleholds.”
I am proud of our efforts and am committed to working with our community! Please read and share: https://t.co/JWPKJ3UeOV
— Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez III (@MDPD_Director) June 8, 2020
“As a progressive agency, we must remain in a constant state of review & open to emerging best practices and community feedback,” Ramirez wrote. “As such, I have decided to no longer authorize the utilization of the Applied Carotid Triangle Restraint (ACTR). This decision was based on a multitude of factors to include officer & public safety, feedback from policing professionals, members of our community, local leaders & officials, as well as recommendations from the Police Executive Research Forum.”
Hialeah is the last remaining Florida police department that still sanctions the ACTR, or chokeholds. Across the nation, cities like Minneapolis, Phoenix, and San Diego have taken steps to ban the practice following Black Lives Matter protests that decry police brutality against people of color.
Internationally, France has also outlawed the practice following international protests in solidarity with American civil rights activists.
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