Back in 2013 the United States Justice Department began a 21-month investigation into the Cleveland Police Department, which ultimately revealed that the police "routinely bash people on the head with their guns, sometimes accidentally firing them," according to Cleveland.com. That is all set to change now due to a consent decree between the two parties revealed yesterday.
The consent decree states that "[Cleveland Division of Police's] policy will expressly provide that using a firearm as an impact weapon is never an authorized tactic." It also includes that "officers will be trained that use of a firearm as an impact weapon could result in death to suspects, bystanders and themselves."
The police tactic has caused injuries to numerous suspects over the years, and now even unholstering their firearms is prohibited unless the officers "believe lethal force is necessary." The consent decree also states that Cleveland officers will be trained to "de-escalate situations" verbally "instead of approaching suspects with guns drawn."
"It is also unclear why CDP appears to be categorizing hitting someone with a gun as a conventional response when force is needed," said the 58-page report released back in December 2014. "This is uniformly understood to be a dangerous practice that should never be permitted except in very unusual and exigent circumstances in which the use of deadly force is authorized; yet, it was a practice we saw CDP officers engaging in too frequently."
Source: Cleveland.com
