With calls for reform growing, why won’t KC police ban controversial neck restraint?

While many police departments across the country are reevaluating the techniques used to restrain suspects, the Kansas City Police Department is holding firm in allowing the use of a controversial and potentially dangerous neck restraint.

Kansas City police officials have long touted the effectiveness of the Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint, known as the LVNR. And bans on the technique in other cities don’t appear to be changing any minds in the Kansas City Police Department.

Kansas City police officials have argued that the move, which restricts blood flow to the brain and can render a suspect unconscious, is safer than a chokehold. But a growing number of law enforcement agencies are restricting or outlawing the maneuver, and many police reform advocates have called for an end to all neck restraints and chokeholds.

The LVNR, which looks awfully similar to a chokehold, was invented in Kansas City. But the city that claims credit for developing the technique now should ban it.

Both the chokehold and LVNR are inherently dangerous. If executed incorrectly, either could lead to serious injury or death.

Law enforcement agencies in Washington, D.C., and Houston banned chokeholds and similar techniques used to subdue suspects.

Police officers in Miami are prohibited from using the LVNR technique favored by Kansas City officers. Denver prohibits chokeholds and carotid compressions with no exceptions, as does Phoenix.

In Minnesota, police were ordered to stop using all neck restraints and chokeholds on suspects. Some other police departments across the country abandoned the LVNR after suspects were killed or injured.

And Democrats in Congress are backing legislation that would ban all neck restraints.

Many Kansas Citians want to reimagine how police protect and serve the community. And efforts to reform policies and procedures have begun in earnest.

But the slide show about the LVNR technique presented at last week’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting suggests that on this issue at least, the police department is stuck in the past.

The Kansas City Police Department does not authorize the use of neck restraints unless deadly force is warranted, officials said. Kansas City police have defended the use of the LVNR method, noting that it was employed 84 times during the last three years without anyone being injured.

But a technique that leaves suspects unconscious with some regularity has the potential to go horribly wrong, and the LVNR system has been linked to deaths and injuries in several cities.

Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith apparently sees no problem with subduing a suspect by the neck. Smith also defended the use of tear gas and beanbag rounds during the local protests that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The Major Cities Chiefs Association recently recommended a ban on chokeholds and similar maneuvers unless an officer is in a fight for their life.

Ken Novak, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said the public should have a voice in determining whether police departments allow the use of neck restraints during less-than-lethal encounters.

“Tasers and OC (pepper) spray may serve the same purpose and may be more tolerated by the community,” he said.

Floyd, an African American man, died in May after a deadly encounter with former police officer Derek Chauvin, who is now accused of second-degree murder.

Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck, pinning him down even as Floyd gasped for air and said, “I can’t breathe.” The killing set off protests nationwide and demands for immediate changes in how police interact with criminal suspects.

The Kansas City Police Department must do more than pay lip service to the need for wide-ranging reforms in policing. Banning all neck restraints would be another sign of progress.