The US President speaks out in the police violence debate. He believes that police officers should not do without the controversial stranglehold in individual cases.
In the debate on police violence in the United States, US President Donald Trump defended the controversial use of strangleholds in exceptional situations. Police sometimes find themselves in “bad fights,” Trump said in an interview. Sometimes they may use a stranglehold.

There are one-on-one situations and arguments with “really bad people”. In such a case, one could not ask a police officer to do without a stranglehold. However, the president also said that he does not like strangleholds: “I think it’s very good if they are generally ended.” He wanted to see a “compassionate but strong” police force on America’s streets. Trump’s Republicans have so far rejected a package of measures against police violence that the opposition US Democrats have presented.

In the meantime, cities and states are taking action and issuing new rules. In New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo banned strangleholds in police operations on Friday. He signed a legislative package stipulating that police officers could face up to 15 years in prison if they used a stranglehold to injure or kill people. Also, the files on misconduct and disciplinary proceedings by police officers should be easier to view in the future.

In France, several cities have now banned strangleholds, but police officers there are defending themselves against the new requirements. In Seattle, meanwhile, a court has temporarily banned police officers from using tear gas, pepper spray, and stun grenades against demonstrators after a lawsuit by the Black Lives Matter activist group. The ban is valid for two weeks.