SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- San Diego Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer and SDPD police chief David Nisleit said they are looking to build on recent police policies on officer use of force.
Faulconer, Nisleit, and other public officials made a formal announcement Wednesday afternoon.
"We hear what the community's concerns are,” San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said. “The preservation of human life is our number one priority.”
Nisleit said that de-escalation is a number one priority for the department.
“De-escalation steps include things like creating a buffer zone between an officer and a subject to reduce tensions, or calling on specialized resources such as psychiatric emergency response team,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said.
“These policies are meant to protect the officer as much as the subject and prevent escalation as much as possible before force is used,” he added.
“The officer must intervene,” Nisleit said when talking about officers stepping in when officers see excessive use of force.
The announcement comes weeks since Nisleit said his department would stop the use of a hotly criticized carotid restraint procedure.
SDPD, along with numerous other local agencies, stopped this technique in response to protests across the county after video surfaced showing a Minneapolis officer kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes. Floyd's death while in-custody sparked nationwide calls for police reform.
Watch the full press conference below:
