NORFOLK, Va. — City council members approved some steps Tuesday that they said would continue Norfolk's pursuit of police reform throughout the city.
The council said the measures would build on strategies that make de-escalating violent situations and community-oriented policing priorities.
While council members met on Tuesday, they agreed to have the city manager work towards the following:
- Ban high speed police chases in all cases other than those involving felonies which have resulted in serious injury or death.
- Petition the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services to end its mandate that requires the Commonwealth’s police departments to train its officers in employing carotid choke holds.
- Publish current Norfolk Police Department policy and procedures manual, all general orders, special orders, update annual reports on a regular basis, and to make these items available to the public on the City of Norfolk website and Open Data platform.
The city said in a news release that the Norfolk Police Department began moving away from a heavy enforcement model to one of community-oriented policing in the 1990s. It added that since 2013, Norfolk has focused it efforts "toward the just administration of public safety, community engagement, and greater accountability."
The council's decision came in the midst of cities across Hampton Roads, Virginia, and the country looking at their policing policies and the relationships that public safety departments have with communities.
Much of that consideration is in light of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Four police officers there were charged with or in connection to his murder after one of them, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.
Norfolk, like other cities and counties in the area and places nationwide, has been home to many protests, demonstrations, and rallies calling for an end to racial injustice and police brutality.
The calls from the thousands of people who've been part of those events have been in the name of Floyd and many other members of the black community who've died at the hands of police, including Breonna Taylor in Louisiville, Ky.