Smyrna police officers asked the town council to approve two new restraint tools — hobbles to restrict leg movement and spit masks to stop people from spitting on officers — citing at least 46 assaults on officers over the past two years. The request went before the Smyrna Town Council at its meeting Tuesday at 5 p.m. CDT.
According to WSMV, Smyrna Police Chief Jason Irvin told the council that 41 of those 46 assault incidents involved officers who were attacked alone, and that some people have spat on officers during arrests even after being handcuffed. Irvin had already detailed the department's officer assault numbers at a town council workshop the previous month, the station reports, making Tuesday's meeting the next step in a request that has been building for weeks.
Irvin took the job leading the Smyrna Police Department in November 2022, arriving after 25 years with the Chattanooga Police Department, including five years as an assistant chief there, according to the Rutherford Source. The department itself has grown alongside the town: in July 2023, it created two Assistant Police Chief positions to help manage oversight as Smyrna's population expanded, WGNS Radio reported at the time. Smyrna, a fast-growing town in the Nashville metro area, had 53,070 residents as of the 2020 Census, per Ballotpedia.
Residents Split on When Restraints Should Be Used
Public reaction at the meeting was mixed, with several residents voicing conditional support rather than outright approval or rejection. Tommy Bonds said restraints should be reserved for people who show violent tendencies and remain violent even after being handcuffed, the station notes. Christianah Adaja said she could support the tools if they protect both officers' safety and the safety of the person being arrested.
Donald Black backed the use of spit masks specifically for people who spit on officers, but he questioned whether hobbles are necessary in situations that don't involve kicking or similar behavior. In response, police said the restraints would only be deployed when arrests turn violent, and that the department studied how other agencies use the tools before drafting its own guidelines, per the same WSMV account.
Restraint Safety Remains a Concern
The debate in Smyrna echoes a broader national conversation about restraint safety. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation recorded 2,313 victims across several offenses in 2018, including murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, intimidation and stalking — an increase in that broader measure since 2015.
At the same time, the Police Executive Research Forum released 15 principles in September 2024. A February 2024 investigation by The Marshall Project identified at least 31 people who died in custody nationwide between 2013 and 2023 on whom spit hoods were used, with health experts warning that the masks raise respiratory risks when combined with physical exertion or vomiting.
Legal scrutiny of spit masks extends beyond safety concerns. A 2021 study by the Institute for Prevention of In-Custody Deaths found that applying a spit mask is legally classified as a use of force requiring compliance with constitutional standards — yet 68% of officers surveyed incorrectly believed it wasn't a use of force at all. Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs has long warned agencies that hobble restraints and prone positioning carry a risk of positional asphyxia, particularly for suspects who are intoxicated or severely agitated, advising officers to move restrained individuals onto their side or into a sitting position immediately.
State Rules Limit When Restraints Can Be Applied
Tennessee's own administrative rules for state-regulated facilities specify that physical restraint interventions may only be used in emergency safety situations involving imminent risk of harm, and are prohibited for discipline or convenience, according to the Tennessee Secretary of State's office. Those standards emphasize that physical restraints carry inherent physical and psychological risks, regardless of the agency applying them.
Hoodline has reported on a fatal restraint case involving a spit hood and full-body restraint system. Whether Smyrna's council ultimately approves the request — and what training or monitoring requirements come attached — remains to be seen following Tuesday's discussion.
