After a forceful arrest during a traffic stop, Syracuse activists and politicians have pressured the city’s police department to clarify and revise its policy on officers’ ability to use force.

Syracuse Police Department Chief Kenton Buckner has said he will release a revised policy by the end of this week. Also expected are the results of an investigation into the May 31 forceful arrest of Shaolin Moore, 23, of Syracuse.

A viral video posted on Instagram showed officer Christopher Buske threatening to spray Moore with pepper spray unless he got out of his car. Buske then pulled Moore out of the vehicle by his neck and stuck him with a closed fist. Several officers held Moore down on the ground as he was arrested.

The video sparked outrage among community members. A silent protest took place outside City Hall on June 5, with protest organizers demanding that Buckner and Mayor Ben Walsh reform SPD’s use of force policy.

SPD’s use of force guidelines haven’t been overhauled in decades, First Deputy Chief Joseph Cecile told Syracuse.com in May. Syracuse Common Councilor Bryn Lovejoy-Grinnell told The Daily Orange she wasn’t aware that SPD was revising its use of force policy until Buckner’s statement following Moore’s arrest.

“For many years it’s been a problem that has remained unrevised and unmodified, and so that was news to me,” Lovejoy-Grinnell said.

Common Council President Helen Hudson issued a statement on June 4 calling the video of Moore’s arrest “disturbing.” Hudson said excessive force by police “will not continue to be tolerated.”

Buckner told Syracuse.com in May that the department had already began training officers under the new use of force policy, but the details of that update haven’t been released yet. Before Buckner started as chief, however, the department’s policy was criticized by Syracuse’s police watchdog agency, the Citizen Review Board.

“The current policy has virtually no guidance for officers at all,” said Peter McCarthy, the board’s current chair.

The SPD policy without Buckner’s revisions defines physical force as “a degree of physical contact,” including kicking, pushing, biting and using a chemical agent, that is “unlikely to result in serious injury or physical death,” according to a copy of the policy posted by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The policy instructs police officers to be aware of and use Article 35 of the New York State Penal Law Code to guide them in decisions concerning the use of force.  Article 35 states that a police or peace officer “may use physical force when and to the extent he or she reasonably believes  such to be necessary,” such as during an arrest, escape from custody, or physical attack on the officer or another person.

In the guidelines surrounding physical force, the SPD policy also calls on officers to use “only the degree of force that is necessary to achieve their lawful objectives.”

It is unclear whether the old or updated use of force policy will be used by investigators in evaluating officers’ conduct during Moore’s arrest.

The unrevised use of force policy would “almost definitely” exonerate the officers involved in Moore’s arrest based on their actions during the traffic stop, Lovejoy-Grinnel said.

People made 37 excessive force complaints in 2017 to Syracuse’s Citizen Review Board, according to the board’s yearly report. The number of excessive force complaints has fluctuated since 2012, the first year reported in the board’s data. Since 2013, the board recommended discipline against officers at the lowest rate in 2017 — with five of that year’s 37 complaints resulting in recommendations for disciplinary action.

The Citizen Review Board has published multiple recommendations, starting in 2013, and a sample use of force policy in 2015 as part of its yearly reports.  The SPD use of force policy should give more specific guidance about what types of force and weapons can be used, as well as when officers are actually allowed to use force, McCarthy said.

“They have to value the humanity of the people that they’re dealing with,” he said.

Police officers should be better trained in de-escalation and trauma reaction, Lovejoy-Grinnell said. She would also like SPD officers to have greater knowledge of the areas they patrol.

Officers should “understand the extreme threat that many civilians, especially civilians of color, experience when stopped or having some interaction with the police,” Lovejoy-Grinnell said.

She said the reactions people of color have when interacting with police are often based in either individual or historical trauma, rather than the immediate cause of a particular interaction.

After the policy is released, SPD and Walsh will hold public forums on the issue of use of force. SPD will also release its camera body policy, which is undergoing review and revision, and details on the city’s sound reproduction ordinance.

McCarthy said it is unclear if SPD considered the recommendations of the Citizen Review Board when crafting the new policy. Still, he said it is important that the police department takes community input into account.

“The police department shouldn’t get to write its own policies and put them in place without input from outside,” McCarthy said.

Lovejoy-Grinnell said work needs to be done to mend trust between the Syracuse community and police. However, she said she is “heartened” by Buckner’s promise to involve the community in revising SPD’s use of force policy.

“I absolutely think he is the right chief for our city at this moment, for our community at this moment,” she said.

Published on June 14, 2019 at 10:06 am

Contact India: irmiragl@syr.edu