Police respond to ACLU use of force advice

Las Vegas police officials said Tuesday that they agree with "numerous" recommendations to change use of force policies made by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada this week.

Some of the suggestions had been arrived at independently by the department's own internal review team, according to Capt. Kirk Primas, who has been tasked with overseeing a slew of changes to how and when officers use deadly force.

"We spent the last week kind of looking at their recommendations and comparing them to ours," Primas said. "Overall, I would say that it's a pretty well-written draft."

The ACLU released a 62-page report Monday comparing the Metropolitan Police Department's policies with those of agencies in six other cities and "best practices" nationwide. A slew of recommendations was included, including suggestions to add language that officers "emphasize the importance of human life."

Primas said he and his team agreed with adding that language.

"There's nothing more important than that," he said.

Those changes will appear in an updated use of force policy the department expects to introduce by the first week of May, with training on those updated policies to follow. The training will start with supervisors, but eventually every officer will be taught, Primas said.

Policy changes will be at the heart of several reviews by officials looking into how and why officers shoot at people. In addition to the ACLU's report, Primas' team is doing its own review, and the U.S. Department of Justice has contracted with a nonprofit group to study the agency's shootings.

The Justice Department study was in response to calls for a federal investigation by the ACLU and the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It's expected to conclude in August with a public report with recommendations for changes.

Much of the language in the department's use of force policy manual has remained unchanged for more than a decade. Primas said most of the future changes will be changes to policy language and definitions, while others will focus on some of the latest trends in policing theory, such as emphasizing de-escalation techniques to officers. The ACLU also recommended policy language on de-escalation.

Police already have brought some policies closer to the ACLU's recommendations. The ACLU suggested the agency adopt language about how many times officers should use a Taser on someone. Early this month the department implemented a stronger policy, telling officers that if they have to use a Taser three times on someone, they must deem the device "ineffective" and look to other means to subdue the person.

While deemed "less-lethal" devices, Tasers have been cited as contributing causes in the deaths of dozens of people over the years nationwide, including several in Las Vegas.

The agency also has revised its policies about using shotguns that fire less-lethal beanbag rounds and rifles. Officers now have to tell dispatchers every time they take a rifle out of their car and must tell all nearby officers when they plan to fire a beanbag shotgun.

Those changes, in February, came after the death of unarmed Persian Gulf War veteran Stanley Gibson. Officer Jesus Arevalo fired an AR-15 rifle several times into Gibson's car after another officer fired a beanbag shotgun into the back window. Officers had planned to use the beanbag shotgun round to blast out the back window to try to remove Gibson from his car safely, and Arevalo might have fired in a possible miscommunication.

The ACLU said the department should require that Las Vegas police record every time an officer points their firearm at someone and adopt a foot pursuit policy that matches the national standard.

Primas said he and his team, the newly created Office of Internal Oversight, will continue to review and compare the ACLU's report to their own. He expects to have responses to all of the ACLU's recommendations within the next two weeks.

Contact reporter Lawrence Mower at lmower@review journal.com or 702-383-0440.