Pasadena Police Have Not Used Carotid Restraint Hold This Year

Officers in the Pasadena Police Department have not used the carotid restraint hold in 2020, Pasadena Now has learned.

The hold, which cuts off the blood supply to the brain and renders unconsciousness, was suspended by Pasadena police officials yesterday.

Although the department has not used the sleeper hold in 2020, strikes have been used during five different incidents.

Currently the department is experiencing a 50 percent decrease in force, but that decrease cannot be attributed to the Coronavirus keeping people home. Crime is up 4 percent from the previous years.

The decrease may be attributed to the 30-day review of force incidents that dissects incidents and determines if officers could have used de-escalation techniques in order to better handle certain situations.

Additionally, the Department’s Defensive Tactics Team is using the Use of Force incidents to develop real-life scenario training for the department.

In 2019, the department used the restraint hold eight times or in 23 percent of the incidents, which represented a major increase in the use of the hold.

In 2018, carotid control holds were used three times or in 10 percent of use of force cases, and four times in 2017, equating to nine percent of the department’s use of force incidents. Strikes were used 35 times in 2017.

The Pasadena police department’s decision comes on the heels of concerns about the hold at the state level.

On Friday morning, Governor Newsome expressed his concerns about the use of the carotid restraint control hold by California Police officers.

Newsom called for an end of the carotid hold at a press briefing Friday.

“Across this country we train techniques on strangleholds that put peoples’ lives at risk,” Newsom remarked.

Newsom expressed his concerns following two weeks of protests in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.

Floyd died on Memorial Day after a police officer used a form of the carotid hold, putting his knee on his neck for several minutes.

Newsom has directed the California’s Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) to stop providing training in the use of the hold and has introduced new legislation (AB 1196) which is intended to ban the use of the CRCH.

The department is expecting to get further clarity regarding this issue in the next few weeks.