COLUMBIA, S.C. — On Tuesday, Columbia City Council will be reviewing modifications to Columbia's Use of Force policy, which are required for the department to maintain their accreditation.
The Columbia Police Department is making some minor alterations to meet the required standards for policy and procedure, including its Use of Force Policy.
The standards are set by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).
"This is an update of those 460 policies to meet the redone CALEA standards," said Columbia Council Member Howard Duvall. "We already have most of these on our books, and we are just modifying our wording to meet the new wording of CALEA."
Duvall said the last major update to the police policy was done in 2020. It prohibited the use of chokeholds and carotid artery holds unless deadly force is authorized.
"In the early Summer of 2020, there was a big push for us to review our policies," Duvall said. "This is a fine tuning of those fine changes that we made in 2020."
Duvall explains modifications are normal, and any modifications to the policy must be approved by City Council.
"When you have a high risk policy, like the use of force policy, it’s required by the City of Columbia that it’d be reviewed by the legal department and it be reviewed by the city council," Duvall said.
"In April, the Columbia Police Department (CPD) is scheduled for (CALEA®) reaccreditation and review," Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook explained. "In preparation for the review, and as a matter of administrative process, we have revised our use-of-force policy to reflect the new (CALEA®) standards. Such a revision requires City Council approval."
Officials say the update does not mean changes are happening to policies, but the wording is being more clear on what the procedure is.
The revisions will be reviewed by council at its regular meeting on Tuesday.