City of Pittsburgh officials held a press conference today at 10 am to discuss police reform measures. During that conference, Mayor Peduto and PGH Chief of Staff Dan Gilman introduced new police reform initiatives that will take effect immediately. You can watch full press conference is below.
The proposed reforms include:
- Requires officers to de-escalate situations, when possible, before using force
- Have a Force Continuum, or Matrix, included in their use of force policy, defining the types of force/weapons that can be used to respond to specific types of resistance
- Explicitly prohibit chokeholds and strangleholds (including carotid restraints) or limit these tactics to situations where deadly force is authorized
- Requires officers to give a verbal warning, when possible, before using deadly force
- Additional reforms can be seen in the tweet below.
Mayor Peduto also answered questions and discussed the investigation that was announced on yesterday related to the protests in East Liberty on Monday, June 1, 2020. Scroll down for to see the FB post with more details.