Salinas PD responds to Attorney General police reform proposal

SALINAS, Calif. (KION) California Attorney Xavier Becerra recently announced an agenda for police reform aimed at improving use-of-force procedures and addressing bias in policing following the death of George Floyd and nation-wide protests.

The Salinas Police Department responded to the recommendations by highlighting areas of their policy, surrounding the carotid control hold, de-escalation protocol and canine use, among other areas.

Salinas Police Chief Adele Frese told KION the department already had 
policies in place that align with the AG's recommendations before they were released.

AG Becerra recommends that agencies should have a policy prohibiting chokeholds and restraints which could cut off blood or oxygen to the person.

Frese said it’s part of Salinas PD’s policy that they won’t use the carotid hold as a regular use of force option, but only as an alternative to lethal force.

“If an officer gets in a situation where they have to use deadly force and 
other means are not necessarily available or appropriate and the carotid is 
something accessible, they can use it,” Frese said.

There’s also a proposal to stop the use of a police canine biting technique, known as "bite and hold." The AG recommends implementing “find and bark” or “circle and bark” techniques, where canines alert officers by barking, rather than biting a suspect as a first response. But there could be some challenges with this approach.

KION spoke with Salinas Police Sgt. Gerry Magaña who is a previous K-9 handler. He said the department’s canines are only trained to bite and hold, or help locate suspects using their senses.

But there has to be certain criteria met before they deploy the canines, this includes incidents where a person has to be resisting or threatening to resist arrest or poses a threat to safety of officers or the public, among other factors. Magaña said they have to warn suspects before they deploy the canines as well.

"We give the suspect an opportunity to surender themselves peacefully before the K-9 is deployed," Sgt. Magaña said.

Chief Frese said they are going to continue using the K-9s because they are very effective, but says they’ll comply with the Becerra’s recommendation to give warning first. 

Click here to see a full list of Attorney General Becerra's police reform agenda items: https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-becerra-calls-broad-police-reforms-and-proactive-efforts

Click here to see Salinas PD's policies related to Becerra's reform agenda: https://www.salinaspd.com/sites/default/files/attachments/ag_reform.pdf