‘Knee jerk reaction’: Police Union boss slams QPS decision to ban controversial chokehold

The Queensland Police Union has slammed the Commissioner’s decision to ban the use of chokeholds by officers. HAVE YOUR SAY

Queensland Police Union boss Ian Leavers has slammed the Commissioner’s decision to ban the use of the lateral vascular neck restraint (LVNR) technique as a use-of-force option for all officers, labelling it a “knee-jerk reaction”.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll banned the technique on Friday following a 12-month organisational review.

But Mr Leavers said: “The Queensland Police Union does not support and never has supported a ban on the use of the LVNR.
“The QPU supports the continued use of LVNRs as a use-of-force option.”

Ms Carroll implemented a working group in 2022 to carefully examine a range of considerations surrounding the use of the LVNR for officers.

The working group consisted of subject matter experts and external representatives from the Queensland Police Union of Employees, Crime and Corruption Commission, and a recognised medical expert from the Queensland Ambulance Service.

“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 and preferred a comprehensive review as agreed by the QPS’ LVNR working group,” Mr Leavers said.

“The QPU consider the ban of LVNRs a knee-jerk reaction without any supporting longitudinal evidence.”

Ms Carroll said the decision was made following consideration of a range of evidence and information compiled over several months.

“The QPS is committed to enhancing our practices to ensure we are delivering high quality policing services to the community we proudly serve,” she said.

“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.

“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.

“The decision aligns Queensland with all other Australian policing jurisdictions who no longer use the technique.”

But Mr Leavers said the decision had come before the data was even in.

“In fact, we even all agreed to start collecting data on LVNR usage because none existed. And that’s where we thought this matter ended,” he said.

“That we would continue to utilise LVNRs and that we would actually collect data on its usage for the first time ever.

“The LVNR is a valuable tool available to police and should not be removed.

“It appears the QPS wants to take away use-of-force options and this will be detrimental to police and could very well affect community safety.”

“The only thing banning the LVNR for police will do, is force all police to become more reliant on OC spray, batons, tasers and firearms and the QPU fully supports all police who will now extensively use these options now that LVNR use has been taken away from them.

“The QPU makes it clear that if the life of a police officer is in danger, police should use any and every method at their disposal to keep safe and if that now means greater use of tasers and firearms then so be it.”

The QPS is immediately updating its operational skills training packages to reflect the updated use-of-force model.