Spit hoods - Police in NZ breach own policy on controversial restraint
(WorldNews New Zealand)

For the past decade, New Zealand police have significantly increased their use of a controversial restraint tool which has been linked to deaths overseas and admitted to breaching their own policies multiple times. Example of a spit hood. Spit hoods are made of a mesh-type fabric, which are placed over someone`s head to stop people from spitting on police officers. They`re banned in some parts of the world, but in New Zealand their use has grown over the past 10 years – from 12 times in 2011 to 257 last year. That`s a 20-fold increase. Data released to TVNZ1`s Sunday under the Official Information Act reveals officers have failed to follow their own policy which prohibits the hooding...