CMPD officers now required to report when they draw and point a gun
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police will start tracking every time an officer draws a weapon and points it at someone. The additional reporting is enabled by a new sensor — sometimes called a holster monitor — which automatically turns on an officer’s body-worn camera when a firearm is removed from its holster.
In a press conference on Wednesday, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said all officers have now been outfitted with the new “signal sidearm” sensor. Officers will also be required to report why they drew they weapon and what they did with the weapon after it was drawn — including whether it was pointed at anyone, he said.
The change comes as demand for transparency and police accountability has risen following over a month of national protests against police brutality toward Black people and the death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
One reform that advocates have demanded is additional reporting whenever police officers threaten use of force. Previously, officers only voluntarily reported when they pointed a firearm at another person starting two years ago, according to a CMPD presentation to city council.
The department tested the device in 2017 with 100 officers and again in 2018, before purchasing 1,175 units of the technology in February 2020, according to the presentation. CMPD officers were supposed to begin using the holster monitors in March but were delayed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
CMPD and ‘8 Can’t Wait’
CMPD’s new requirement to report whenever an officer draws his or her weapon relates to the department’s attempt to become compliant with Campaign Zero’s “8 Can’t Wait” initiative, which details eight policies designed to reduce police brutality and deaths. One of the policies demands that officers report whenever they use force or threaten to use force against a civilian.
In June, CMPD posted a checklist of the demands from “8 Can’t Wait” and said the department was in compliance with all the demands. However on Tuesday, Jennings acknowledged that there are four areas of policy that “we need to work on” and said the graphic has since been removed from CMPD’s website.
“I’m confident we will satisfy all eight of these at a very short time frame,” he said.
According to the CMPD presentation to city council members on Tuesday, the department already requires officers to report whenever they use force.
On Tuesday, Federico Rios, a member of a city council community group to review police policy, summarized a presentation on CMPD’s policies by Samuel Sinyangwe a co-founder of Campaign Zero. One recommendation from Campaign Zero, he said, is that police departments consider pointing a weapon at another person as a use of force and investigate any such incident as if it were a use of force.
“The (police) departments that add this as being a part of use of force have seen less incidents and more accountability across the board,” Rios said.
CMPD will now track each time an officer draws or points their weapon, but the department still considers pointing a gun “a show of force” rather than a use of force, CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano said in an interview.
While bodyworn camera footage is routinely audited, Tufano said that not every incident where a officer draws or points their weapon will be reviewed.
