Global Courant
The Mississippi Capitol Police, which shot four people in the first few months of an expanded crime-fighting mission in the city of Jackson, has issued new guidelines for when officers are allowed to use force against the public.
The state agency quietly revised its rules on the use of force in late April after NBC News found it had deployed aggressive street units last summer without updating policies to reflect its new mission.
The new violence policy, which covers the Capitol Police and other agencies under the Department of Public Safety, reflects some of the changes U.S. police departments have embraced in recent years. It includes a “duty to intervene” to prevent another officer from using excessive force. It also adds the generally accepted “objectively reasonable” standard — established in a U.S. Supreme Court decision outlining what a typical officer would do in the same circumstances — for measuring what kind of force is acceptable.
The old policy was written in 2006, when the service mainly provided security for government buildings. Experts said it contained confusing and inconsistent language that likely made it difficult for officers to understand what was allowed.
All shootings, including the murder of a young father, are still under investigation. No officers have been punished in any of them. State officials have declined to comment or release information about the shootings until the state prosecutor’s office decides whether to pursue criminal charges against any of the officers.
The changes come as the Capitol Police amass more power in Jackson. On July 1, its jurisdiction will expand beyond a district around downtown to include the entire city. The buildup was made possible by a Republican-backed state bill, passed in March, opposed by most elected leaders in the Democrat-led, majority-black city. Civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit to prevent the law from taking effect, saying Jackson residents are being discriminated against.
Sean Tindell, the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, has acknowledged problems with the Capitol Police’s 17-year-old policy. In addition to reviewing the use of force policy, he said the agency is updating many other policies, including one conflicting about car chasesalso dating from 2006.
The changes are an effort to better align Capitol police with national standards, Tindell said in an interview. “The original policy for Capitol Police was put in place in September 2006, and obviously a lot of things have evolved since then,” Tindell said.
Experts said the revised use of force policy was a big improvement.
“It’s definitely better than what they had before,” said Robert Pusins, a retired major for the Fort Lauderdale, Florida Police Department and now a consultant.
But the experts also found flaws.
Pusins said use of force policy must require officers to use de-escalation techniques where possible to avoid the use of force. The new Capitol Police policy makes no mention of de-escalation.
Chris Burbank, a former Salt Lake City police chief and advisor to the Center for Policing Equity, which helps agencies reduce the use of force, pointed out that the new policy on the use of force does not ban chokeholds, which restrict breathing, or “lateral vascular neck braces,” which restrict blood flow to the brain. The new policy also says an officer “is not required to retreat or retreat before resorting to approved use of force, including deadly force.” Such a determination is not uncommon, experts say.
That, and a provision that allows officers to fire at or from moving cars under certain circumstances, exposed Capitol police to unnecessary risk — and fewer opportunities to apprehend responsible officers who use deadly force, Burbank said.
“It’s a great policy, but it does nothing to improve the public confidence that we’re trying to gain,” Burbank said.
Jim Bueermann, a retired police chief in Redlands, California, and former head of the National Police Foundation, now known as the National Policing Institute, a nonprofit research organization, said the new policy didn’t go far enough to give officers the option of avoiding a pursuit or other confrontation that could result in someone – the officer, a suspect or a member of the public – being killed.
“Any time they think someone is shooting at them, the officers would probably be able to articulate policy compliance by simply defending themselves rather than just backing off,” Bueermann said.
Tindell said the new policy seeks to discourage shooting during chases and the use of chokeholds, but acknowledges there may be “exceptional circumstances” – where someone’s life is in danger – when they may be necessary. He also pointed out that the new policy requires all incidents of violence to be reviewed annually to identify patterns.
The Capitol Police Department released its new use of force policy in response to a request for public records. It contained no redactions. That was a change from earlier this year, when the agency edited much of its 2006 use of force policy—and its 2006 car pursuit policy—before providing a copy. Experts said the editorial was unusual and could make it more difficult for the Capitol Police to appear transparent to the public. The experts have also criticized the Capitol Police for not publishing its policies online.
The new violence policy prohibits officers from turning off their body cameras. But the Capitol Police has not equipped the vast majority of its officers with body cameras — about 11 of its 130 officers have them. The agency has also not installed dashboard cameras in its patrol cars. Both types of cameras are considered standard equipment for investigating officers’ use of force and building public trust.
Tindell has said he plans to give all Capitol police officers body cameras using money from the new state budget. The agency reviews proposals from suppliers, he said.
