Metro Police announced today they are limiting the use of a neck restraint technique to cases where an officer’s life is being threatened.
The change takes effect immediately, police said.
The technique, known as the lateral vascular neck restraint, had previously been permitted in cases where an officer was confronted by an assaultive person, police said.
“It will now be used only when an officer fears for their life in a deadly force encounter,” Metro said in a news release.
The restraint is is applied to the sides of the neck to restrict blood flow to the brain, which may cause the subject to lose consciousness, police said.
It is not a chokehold, which is used to restrain a subject by restricting their breathing, police said. Metro has never allowed choke holds.
The change in policy was prompted by input from the community and national police reform efforts, Metro said.
“We are constantly evolving and looking for ways to improve our use of force standards,” Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said in a statement. “In this case, a national conversation about this technique showed us that we had room for improvement.”
Metro last update its use of force policy on May 15, prior to the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests about police reform.
Floyd died after a police officer in Minnesota pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly 8 minutes during an arrest.