Legislature approves police use-of-force reforms

The Tennessee House of Representatives has followed the state Senate’s lead and overwhelmingly passed a series of changes to Tennessee’s police use-of-force policies.

The changes, which were crafted in partnership with law enforcement representatives, would ban chokeholds unless an officer believes deadly force is authorized, require the teaching of chokeholds during police training, require law enforcement agencies to develop de-escalation policies, require officers to intervene when witnessing excessive force by other officers, prohibit firing weapons at moving vehicles unless an officer believes deadly force is authorized and prohibit the issuance of no-knock warrants.