Baltimore Police Issue New Use-of-Force Guidelines

The Baltimore Police Department has updated its use-of-force policy to mandate officers to immediately render aid if someone in custody complains of an injury. This comes a year after an arrestee suffered a critical spinal injury in a police van but was initially denied medical treatment.

Police Commissioner Kevin Davis announced the new policy Wednesday. The policy hasn’t be updated since 2003.

The new policy provides a complete overhaul of the old, which included very little information about what constitutes appropriate use of force. Instead, the policy largely focused on how to document the incident among supervisors.

The updated version, which is 14 pages rather than just six, includes sections on de-escalation tactics.

The updates come after the death of Freddie Gray, whose death in police custody sparked protest and rioting, and toppled the career of Davis’ predecessor.