Here is a look at what spit hoods are, why and when law enforcement officers may use them, and some controversies surrounding their use.
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What is a spit hood?
Some are basically just a mesh sack, with a ring of elastic at the opening. Others add a layer of another material — sometimes fabric like that used in a medical mask — on the bottom half where one’s mouth would be.
The mesh is meant to let the wearer continue to breathe and see, while containing any spittle. They’re made and sold, including online, by companies that cater to first responders.
When can police use a spit hood?
There is no national standard for use of a spit hood or training for it. If a department allows officers to use them, that department will decide its own policy, procedures and training, said Epperson, co-owner of the AGR Police Practice Group, which in part advises police departments on policies and practices.
Generally, though, departments may allow them in at least two situations: When a detainee is spitting or biting, or when a subject verbally threatens to do so, Epperson said.
Training, including that dealing with detainee safety, varies, Haberfeld said. Vomiting with a hood on may present a choking risk, so some policies “will specifically spell out that (the hood) should be … removed if somebody is vomiting,” she said.
Because pepper spray could hinder someone from breathing properly, some departments prohibit the hoods’ use for someone who has been sprayed, she said.
The lack of national policy and training standards is one reason why Amnesty International USA says it has concerns about spit hoods.
“There needs to be national guidance on the use, … and we need to have proper training and monitoring of the use,” said Justin Mazzola, the organization’s deputy director of research.
“It’s usually up to each police department or corrections office. They tend to copy each other,” and that could lead to numerous insufficient policies, he said.
National guidelines, he said, should come from the US Department of Justice and its research arm, the National Institute of Justice. He also calls for nationwide studies on “how often they’re used, what manner they’re used, and when.”
Much of Amnesty International’s concern about policy stems from its apprehension about other health risks to detainees.
What are some of the risks to the wearer?
Beyond the collection of fluid such as vomit that could lead to choking, the hoods also pose significant risk to someone already in a mental health crisis or in other agitated states, such as those brought on by drug use, Mazzola said.
“Use of drugs and already at an elevated heart rate — this can actually further restrict their breathing and lead to either further distress or an increased agitated state” that can lead to death, Mazzola said.
Being restrained in other ways, like being held down and handcuffed, while also wearing a hood, will increase the agitation, and therefore the danger, he said.
“It tends to be commonly used by medical examiners to explain sudden deaths in custody of individuals, usually if they’re under agitated states — like under the influence of drugs or other forms of psychosis. (The detainees) suffer a surge of adrenaline,” and their systems collapse, he said.
The report does not mention the spit hood. It does, when elaborating on physical restraint, cite police reports’ mentions of physical restraint “in a prone position.”
Haberfeld stressed that police officers need to protect themselves, and restraining devices — she counts spit hoods among them — are an important tool to safeguard themselves and those around them.
Mazzola acknowledges spit hoods could protect officers from diseases delivered by saliva and says their use would be OK in certain circumstances.
“But (whether to use them) needs to be seriously considered for people” in certain states of mental or physical health, Mazzola said.
How many police departments use them?
Experts say it’s not clear how many departments use spit hoods. But not all do.
Officers generally won’t equip with spit hoods without their department’s approval, Epperson said. Departments are responsible for knowing what’s in their officers’ service belts, and for everything in those belts, there should be a policy, he said.
The device’s prevalence should be one of the subjects that should be studied, Mazzola said.
Experts to whom CNN spoke also weren’t sure how long police departments have used spit hoods. European and American police forces have used them for years, Haberfeld said. Epperson became familiar with their use by police officers around the time he wrote the Rockford department’s policy in the late 1990s, he said.
What have been some controversial uses?
Spit hoods have been featured in a few wrongful death lawsuits in recent years, or otherwise attracted criticism even in nonlethal cases. Some examples:
Video of the incident went viral after being posted on a Sacramento Black Lives Matter Facebook page. The police department backed the officers, saying they acted appropriately to protect themselves, the Bee reported.
The report didn’t take issue with the spit sock itself. Instead, it called out an officer for using pepper spray over the hood while the suspect was handcuffed in a car, after the suspect kicked a window and tried to spit again. Spraying through the spit sock was “cruel and amounts to unnecessary punishment,” the report reads.
Correction: An earlier version of this story had the wrong title for Maria Haberfeld. She is a professor of police science.