Miami-Dade's Top Cop Bans Restraint Technique

MIAMI, FL — Following days of mostly peaceful protests after the death of George Floyd, Miami-Dade's top cop said Thursday he is banning the use of a controversial restraint technique.

"As a progressive agency, we must remain in a constant state of review and open to emerging best practices and community feedback," Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez said in a statement. "As such, I have decided to no longer authorize the utilization of the applied carotid triangle restraint."

Miami-Dade police did not elaborate on how the technique was used by its officers. A link to a two-day instructor certification class from Miami Dade College described the technique as a vascular neck restraint. The link to the course had been removed.

Related:

• Sarasota Arrest Video Shows Officer Kneeling On Man's Head, Neck
• Miami Police Chiefs Reflect On Death Of George Floyd

Ramirez said his decision was based on a number of factors "to include officer and public safety, feedback from policing professionals, members of our community, local leaders and officials and recommendations from the police executive research forum."

In Sarasota, Florida Police Chief Bernadette DiPino suspended her agency's use of a "vascular neck restraint," a technique that compresses the carotid arteries and jugular veins of suspects to gain compliance. Police said the technique did not allow officers to use their leg or knees.

The Sarasota Police Department's procedure permitted officers who were trained in the vascular neck restraint technique to use it on any person who demonstrated "active physical resistance to resist arrest" and who appeared to have the ability to physically harm the officer or others, if the use of lesser force was not likely to "achieve safe control of the subject."

DiPino ordered an internal investigation into a May 18 arrest in which one of her police officers was seen on video kneeling on the head and neck of a man as he was being taken into custody. Sarasota police stressed the agency's application of the vascular neck restraint technique did not allow officers to use their leg or knees.

Ramirez commands one of the 10 largest law enforcement agencies in the United States and his decision is likely to influence other agencies.

"In some cases we set the standards. We look for modern ways to improve at how we perform," Ramirez told Patch in an earlier interview following Floyd's death.

"When these issues happen — or these tactical failures, if you will — we learn from that to make sure that never happens. We want to make sure that our community is safe, and our officers are safe when they are serving. That's our number one priority, the sanctity of life," Ramirez said at the time.