As protests against police brutality and for justice for George Floyd continue across the nation, one police department in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has updated its policies with explicit responsibility for officers to intervene and stop peers from committing abuses of authority or process, as well as acts of brutality, as reported by CNN. As Chattanooga Police Chief David Roddy announced in a statement shared to Facebook on Monday, even if an officer successfully intervenes in such an instance, they are still required to report what happened.
And if an officer doesn’t intervene in such an incident? According to the statement, that officer will also face “disciplinary action,” though it’s not clear what that might entail.
As the statement reads: "Each department member has the individual responsibility to intervene and stop any other member from committing an unlawful or improper act, including but not limited to, acts of brutality, abuses of process, abuses of authority, and any other criminal acts or major violations of department rules and procedures.”
The same statement also reiterates the department’s current policy on the use of force (specifically: warning suspects before using deadly force), which it says has been the same for the last two decades. In terms of deadly force, it notes that “an officer may use deadly force to effect an arrest only if all other reasonable means of apprehension have been exhausted or are unavailable, and where feasible, the officer has given notice of such officer's identity as such and given a warning that deadly force may be used unless resistance or flight ceases.”
Compared to calls to defund the police or to dismantle police departments entirely, this is obviously a small step. That said, every step in the right direction is an important one, especially if it prompts other departments and law enforcement agencies to rise to the occasion.
You can also view the statement shared to the police department’s Twitter account below.