Charlotte council OKs the purchase of ‘less lethal munitions’ for CMPD
The Charlotte City Council voted Monday to authorize the purchase of “less lethal munitions” for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
The munitions are a “crushable foam round” that CMPD already uses, council member Larken Egleston told the Observer on Monday.
“This is not a new tool for them,” said Egleston, who chairs the council’s Safe Communities committee.
The approved proposal directs City Manager Marcus Jones to renew the contract with Raleigh-based Lawmen’s Distribution for up to two, one-year terms, according to the council agenda.
Annual expenditures for the munitions are estimated to be $55,000, according to the agenda.
The council passed the proposal with a majority, with council members Braxton Winston, Victoria Watlington and Matt Newton voting no.
CMPD de-escalation efforts
CMPD has made de-escalation strategies a focus since November 2020, when the department renamed its use of force policy to “Response to Resistance.” The revised language in the policy emphasizes an officer’s duty to attempt to defuse potentially violent scenarios through de-escalation, the Observer previously reported.
The department unveiled a “state of the art” facility in August to teach de-escalation strategies and tactics.
CMPD broke ground on the $2.4 million facility in February 2020, a month before the COVID-19 pandemic, and three months before the police shooting of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In June, CMPD introduced CommUNITY Collaboration, a first-of-its-kind, “customer service” approach to policing for the department’s 2,500 employees.
Training for the program includes about one hour of online work followed by a four-hour, in-person session at the police academy.
Observer staff writer Hannah Smoot contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 13, 2021 at 6:54 PM.
