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It shouldn’t take dozens of deaths, political stress and heart-wrenching testimony from a sufferer’s member of the family earlier than police and sheriff’s departments ban a harmful and inhumane legislation enforcement approach used to subdue suspects. However perhaps it is going to.
The Washington Legislature ought to approve Senate Bill 6009, which might ban using “hog-tying” by legislation enforcement.
State Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, is sponsoring the invoice, which handed out of the Senate’s Legislation and Justice committee final week. Lawmakers from either side of the aisle embraced it after listening to testimony from the sister of Manuel Ellis, who died in March 2020 after being hog-tied by Tacoma police and a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy.
The time period “hog-tie” refers back to the means hogs had been usually restrained by farmers earlier than being slaughtered. However the hog-tie used on Ellis includes cuffing the particular person’s arms behind their again, tying a hobble round their ankles and connecting the hobble to {the handcuffs}, usually whereas the particular person is on the bottom, face down.
Legislation enforcement officers have used different phrases to explain the approach akin to “four-prong restraint” or “inclined maximal restraint.” Regardless of the terminology, the apply itself is dehumanizing and barbaric and shouldn’t be utilized by legislation enforcement. The U.S. Division of Justice in 1995 warned in opposition to using hog-tying due to the danger of positional asphyxia, and in 2022 the Washington Legal professional Common’s Workplace beneficial in opposition to its use in its model use-of-force policy.
Although many legislation enforcement companies have banned its use, together with Seattle Police Division, Tacoma Police Division and King County Sheriff’s Workplace, some nonetheless use it, akin to Pierce County, which was the impetus for Trudeau’s invoice.
“If we actually wish to transfer ahead we simply must say no when there’s a apply that leads to dying and when everyone says it’s harmful,” Trudeau instructed The Occasions editorial board.
There’s some opposition to the invoice, primarily from the Washington Affiliation of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs. Amongst its claims is that there are different units accessible to restrain a person however that they’re cost-prohibitive, and subsequently the state ought to assist pay for them. Based on the web sites of the makers of the restraints talked about by WASPC, the prices of such units vary from $26 to $60 per unit.
Regardless of the associated fee, it’s well worth the funding as a way to keep away from lawsuits, prosecutions and, extra importantly, save lives and construct group belief.
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