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Police Chief says brutality won’t be tolerated

Galesburg Police Chief Russ Idle says he, like other area police chiefs, has talked with community members and leaders at length recently about what needs to be done to address issues of police brutality, in the wake of the death of George Floyd of Minneapolis.

But Idle tells WGIL much of what was seen by the public at the hands of Minneapolis cops, can’t and won’t be done here.

“In the State of Illinois, the use of chokeholds is against the law.  It was passed by the legislature, and it’s been that way for quite awhile,” says Idle.  “We don’t do chokeholds in Illinois at all.  The use of a chokehold is considered deadly force.  So, I suppose, in a deadly force situation, that could be used.  But, we don’t train on that.  We don’t practice that.  We don’t use chokeholds.”

As for the officers in Minneapolis who did little to nothing to stop the deadly use of force, that wouldn’t happen in Galesburg.

“As far as the duty to report and duty to act, it’s a simple concept that if you see someone else doing something wrong, you have an obligation to stop it.  Or, if something that you see that is not appropriate, you have a duty to report it to your supervisor so it can be addressed.”

Idle says, however, if a suspect attempts to assault an officer, the officer has every right to defend himself. But, he says his department will only use an amount of force appropriate enough to overpower what he says is the use of force being used against them.  He says none of his officers want to use force.

CLICK HERE to hear an interview with Chief Russ Idle from Galesburg’s Evening News.

 

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