Police Reform Bill Limits Chokeholds, Makes It Easier to Weed Out Bad Cops
(INDIANAPOLIS) A police reform bill could come to a vote in the Indiana House next week.
A House committee unanimously approved a bill classifying chokeholds as deadly force. That would limit their use to the same extreme circumstances as shooting someone, and subject it to the same scrutiny.
Avon Representative Greg Steuerwald’s (R) bill also requires the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy to include de-escalation training, and would make it easier to decertify officers with a record of violence. Current law allows the state to suspend an officer’s certification only if he’s convicted of a crime which indicates violent tendencies. Steuerwald’s bill would require a due-process hearing on charges that an officer is dangerous, but a criminal conviction wouldn’t be a prerequisite.