Queensland Police Ban Chokeholds Amid Surge in Serious Crimes

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll speaks to the media in Brisbane, on Nov. 23, 2022. AAP Image/Darren England

Queensland Police Service (QPS) has announced its officers will no longer be using a chokehold restraint that restricts blood supply during arrests amid a rise in serious crimes in the Australian state.

In the recent announcement, QPS Commissioner Katarina Carroll said that the state’s police force would discontinue the use of the Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint (LVNR) in high-risk situations, citing a change in options to apply force for officers.

The ban comes following a 12-month organisational review of the technique and will take effect immediately.

The LVNR is a restraint technique in which the user uses his or her arms to compress the arteries and veins in the neck of the subject to cut the blood supply to the brain, which may render them unconscious.

In many countries, police officers were trained to apply the technique during combative arrests involving violent struggles.

However, a number of law enforcement agencies have banned the technique due to safety concerns.

Prior to the ban, Queensland was the only state in Australia that still permitted the use of the LVNR.

The police commissioner said the ban would align Queensland with other Australian states and territories.

“Having reviewed a range of evidence and information presented to me, I have made the decision to discontinue the use of the LVNR from the QPS Use of Force Model and no longer include the technique in our operational skills training,” Carroll said in a statement.

“While it has been available to officers for a long time in Queensland, the options for officers to apply force in challenging and life-threatening situations have increased and broadened since its introduction over 30 years ago.”

Police Union Criticises the Ban

Following Carroll’s announcement, the Queensland Police Union (QPU) criticised the ban, saying the LVNR was an essential tool for police officers.

“The QPU believes in having as many use-of-force options as practical to keep officers safe and does not support reducing use-of-force options for police,” union president Ian Leavers said in comments obtained by AAP.

In addition, the union president warned that the ban could backfire and bring more problems for police officers.

“The QPS hierarchy is clearly more interested in pandering to the minority and disregarding officer safety, and this is becoming more and more prevalent with the continual reduction in use-of-force options for police,” he said.

“The only thing banning the LVNR for police will do is force police to become more reliant on batons, tasers and firearms.”

Police arrest a man for resisting to wear a face mask on the first day of a snap lockdown in Brisbane, Australia, on Jan. 9, 2021.(Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images)  

An investigation by The Australian showed that the use of the LVNR has been associated with at least four fatal incidents in Queensland since 2004.

A coronial finding into the death of Brisbane man Carl Antony Grillo in 2011 found that the technique should not lead to death if used properly.

“If properly applied, an LVNR should have had no impact. Properly applied, an LVNR does not restrict the airway,” coroner Michael Barnes said.

However, Barnes noted that it could be challenging to apply the technique in a “dynamic situation,” which may affect the subject’s windpipe, even if momentarily.

Serious Crimes on the Rise in Queensland

The ban on LVNR comes after the Queensland government released a new report indicating an uptick in serious crimes.

According to Queensland’s 2021-2022 crime report, the state saw an 8.1 percent lift in all types of crime compared to the 2020-2021 financial year, with offences against the person soaring by 46.3 percent.

The number of assault cases surged 60.8 percent to 48,271, while robbery and sexual offences jumped by 18.4 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Breach of domestic violence also rose by 16.7 percent to 46,716 cases.

In contrast, drug offences and weapon act offences decreased by 19.6 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.

Commissioner Carroll said those figures partly reflected a change in the way Queensland police recording of domestic violence offences in July 2021.

The QPS now separately records certain types of individual crime associated with a domestic violence incident, such as assault, strangulation and sexual offences.

The commissioner said the new policy was a good move, providing a clearer picture of what was happening.

“We’re actually now getting a real insight into the offences associated with domestic violence, and it is a sad reflection,” Carroll said.

“The fact that the occurrences are constantly increasing is also something very difficult to deal with and to understand.

“It is a societal issue that we all need to have a very loud conversation about because I want those stats to decrease dramatically.”