Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Oversight panel backs tighter rules on pepper‑ball and projectile use, calls for chief approval and expanded vulnerable‑person protections
Loading...
Summary
After a 30‑minute discussion, the commission approved sending cumulative recommendations on draft Policy 5‑315 to the city, urging bans on punitive area saturation, expanded protections for vulnerable people, clearer SWAT exceptions and stronger training language for use of high‑pressure‑air projectiles and launchers.
Commissioners reviewed draft Policy 5‑315, which covers high‑pressure‑air (HPA) projectiles and launchers (often called pepper balls), and approved a set of recommended changes to be compiled by the Policy, Police Research and Recommendations (PPRR) committee and forwarded to the city.
Commissioner McElhinney led off with a multi‑point proposal: ban punitive or retaliatory area saturation during protests, eliminate property‑damage alone as a trigger for indirect fire near crowds, expand the policy’s vulnerable‑person protections (including for people with respiratory conditions, visibly frail individuals, small children and people with mobility disabilities), and tie indirect fire near property damage to formal crowd‑dispersal procedures. "Property damage shouldn't be a trigger for indirect fire near crowds," McElhinney said. He also urged that SWAT exceptions not be based on the name of a deployment but on the presence of an assembly, and that the chief — not a tactical supervisor — sign off on weapon use against crowds except in narrow, articulable life‑saving circumstances.
Commissioner Kennedy raised concerns about the sparsity of training language in the draft, urging the commission to seek more detail about required training frequency and content so that the policy can be meaningfully evaluated and implemented. Commissioner Baker recommended that indirect‑fire criteria be narrowed so that pepper balls are not used for minor property offenses and suggested adding the term "secured" alongside "handcuffed" to prevent use against restrained people.
The commission instructed PPRR to compile the comments and submit cumulative recommendations to the city, and the clerk recorded a roll‑call vote approving the submission.
Why it matters: commissioners said tighter language and operational limits on HPA projectiles are necessary to reduce unnecessary exposures and to align crowd‑control practice with consent‑decree protections for vulnerable populations. PPRR will prepare the formal submission ahead of the deadline for city consideration.
