Police Address Use of Force Procedures

DULUTH, Minn.– In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death while he was in the hands of Minneapolis Police, city leaders from across the country and right here in Duluth are addressing policies and procedures.

While no policies were announced to be changed, the city of Duluth talked about what goes into policies like the Use of Force policy.

“We know that words are not enough. We have work to do,” said Duluth Mayor Emily Larson.

Duluth leaders held a press conference Monday announcing the police department is looking into its current use of force policies, along with being more transparent with the public.

Police Chief Mike Tusken made revisions to the department’s use of force policy in 2016, banning the use of strangle and chokeholds by officers, viewing it as use of deadly force and not a tactic. Officers were also required to announce warnings before firing when able.

There is also an emphasis on de-escalation. Tusken says using the proper de-escalation techniques plays a big role in tense situations.

“The importance of what we do, not only in using use of force but what did we do before use of force? Those are all going into the calculus of determining what use of force we use and how we use it,” said Tusken.

The Duluth Police Department is constantly working with local groups around the area to help give their recommendations on polices regarding body cameras, internal investigations, crowd control, and more.

While cities like Minneapolis are considering disbanding the city’s police department, Mayor Larson says the idea of cutting funding to police needs more clarity but is a discussion worth having, especially as the city deals with the financial situation caused by COVID-19.

“I think a lot of people are coming to that conversation of defunding and changing a paradigm of policing without a lot of clarity yet because there’s so much going on with that,” said Larson.