Peoria Police Chief Loren Marion III fielded several questions about usage of force Tuesday before the Peoria City Council unanimously passed a resolution condemning the policing actions leading to George Floyd's death.In response to questions from At-Large Councilwoman Rita Ali, Marion said deescalation is required whenever possible before using force, particularly in cases involving a mental health crisis. That training began in 2018.
"Our officers deescalate every day on the calls they're on," the chief said. "We just don't really hear about those calls."
Current policy requires officers to notify a supervisor as soon as possible about witnessed or alleged excessive force incidents by colleagues. But that could change.
"We're actually in the process of tightening that up now. We have some wording that we're going to put in there about officers intervening actually on scene," Marion said.
Marion said chokeholds or shooting at moving vehicles from a moving vehicle isn't permitted under Illinois law unless usage of deadly force is justified. Officers are required to give a verbal warning when possible before using deadly force.
The department adopted a Use of Force continuum policy in 2015.
In response to a question from Ali about a man who died after he was Tased several times, Marion said Tasers can be used until someone complies, but every pull of the trigger is considered an additional usage of force and must be counted."The officer has to note how many times they used the Taser. There's nothing that says how many times as if there's a limit," Marion said. "It's for compliance."
Marion said there's no provision requiring non-deadly force if someone is using deadly force against an officer.
"If someone's shooting at me, I do not have to go through the levels of the use of force continuum before I respond back with deadly force," he said.
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