Longmont City Council will soon get a breakdown of the police department’s use of force policy, including whether officers and emergency personnel use medical injections on suspects of a crime.
The report will likely come in August, City Manager Harold Dominguez said Tuesday night.
A review of the department’s use of force policy was originally requested by Councilwoman Polly Christensen after the recent retirement of Longmont Public Safety Chief Mike Butler.
Christensen said Tuesday night a public statement on police tactics is especially important given the recent unrest surrounding the 2019 death of 23-year-old Elijah McClain. McClain, who was black, died a few days after police confronted him as he was walking home from a convenience store.
Aurora police put a chokehold on McClain and paramedics injected him with ketamine, a sedative.
“I think our community needs to know if we use injections ... to calm arrestees,” Christensen said.
