The Los Angeles Police Department has lifted a week-old moratorium on the use of certain hard-foam projectiles at protests after a federal judge revised her recent court order restricting the weapons’ use.
The LAPD confirmed Thursday that it is putting its 37-millimeter projectile launchers back in the field for use, albeit under several remaining restrictions in U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall’s revised restraining order.
“The LAPD appreciates the Court’s thorough review of all the facts and circumstances,” the department said in a statement to The Times. “We are committed to exercise the needed restraint in the use of crowd control tactics while also maintaining the critical need to protect the community, as well as our police officers.”
Marshall’s revised order, issued Wednesday, allows the LAPD to fire 37-millimeter hard-foam projectiles at the ground in front of protesters after declaring a gathering unlawful and issuing a dispersal order. It requires those weapons be used only by trained officers, and says they cannot be used to target individuals “unless absolutely necessary to prevent imminent serious bodily injury” to officers or others.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.