wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > SB 6009 > Substitute Bill
The legislature finds it is imperative that our criminal justice systems, including the law enforcement profession, must secure public trust and ensure accountability. In order to do so, the legislature finds that it is important to discontinue practices and tactics that dehumanize and create unnecessary risk of harm and/or death to the people they serve. Additionally, it is important that law enforcement is using up-to-date tactics that come with adequate training from the criminal justice training commission to ensure continuity and oversight in the standards applied across the profession. This includes tactics that comply with the model use of force policies put forward by our state's attorney general.
The legislature finds that, in the quest to ensure that all communities are and feel safe, it is important to take guidance from published model policies, comport with statewide standards and training on restraint tactics, and prohibit hog-tying and other similar tactics that are inhumane, outdated, and have led to the unnecessary loss of human life.
A peace officer is prohibited from:
Hog-tying a person; or
Assisting in putting a person into a hog-tie.
Hog-tying shall constitute the use of excessive force for the purposes of RCW 10.93.190.
For purposes of this section, "hog-tie" or "hog-tying" means maximum prone restraint with knees flexed and wrists handcuffed behind the back and secured to bound ankles. "Hog-tie" or "hog-tying" does not include the following:
Use of transport chains or waist chains to transport prisoners; or
Use of a product or device that does not require the person's knees to be flexed while their wrists are handcuffed behind the back and secured to bound ankles.
This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.