Academy to stop teaching carotid hold

Palomar College Police Academy will no longer teach its cadets the carotid restraint, school officials announced Friday.

“Effective last week, the tactic is no longer being employed or used in the academy setting, period,” Michael Andrews, director of public safety programs at the college, said in a news release. “We won’t even use it as an example. It will just simply be erased from training.”

The college said that Andrews was among police academy leaders around the region who raised concerns about the hold, in which the neck is intentionally compressed to cut off blood to the brain. When the restraint is applied correctly, the person can fall unconscious.

“There are many other policing tactics which, when employed properly, can be productive,” Andrews said. “There is no need for this particular tactic.”

Such restraints have come under renewed scrutiny following the death of George Floyd on , who died May 25 in Minneapolis

The move to end using the carotid restraint swept through law enforcement agencies in the region quickly after San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit announced June 1 that his department would no longer use the move.

Two days later, every major policing agency in the region — including the San Diego County Sheriff ’s Department — followed suit.

By the end of the week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom had ordered the state commission that oversees police training no longer allow use of the hold to be taught.

The state Legislature is considering a bill that would ban the restraint as well as chokeholds.

Police leaders have said the carotid restraint can resolve incidents before the need to use deadlier force such as a gun. Critics say the restraint as dangerous and sometimes deadly, and disproportionately used on people of color.