The use of a controversial chokehold restraint by police has effectively been banned across the country after Queensland joined other jurisdictions in stopping the practice.
The move has been welcomed as long overdue by advocacy groups but the police union is warning officers may instead rely on firearms, tasers and batons to make tricky arrests.
Queensland Police Service Commissioner Katarina Carroll made the announcement on Friday, saying options had changed for officers to apply force in challenging and life-threatening situations.
The Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint, also known as the "sleeper", was still being used by the Queensland force during combative arrests despite being abandoned in all other states and territories.
Officers were trained to apply the hold during a violent struggle at the point of arrest.
It involves compressing the arteries and veins in the neck and cutting blood supply to the brain, leading to altered levels of consciousness.
Ms Carroll said the LVNR restraint would no longer be "a use of force option for all officers, effective immediately".
"Having reviewed a range of evidence and information presented to me, I have made the decision to discontinue the use of the LVNR from the QPS Use of Force Model and no longer include the technique in our operational skills training," she said in a statement.
"While it has been available to officers for a long time in Queensland, the options for officers ... have increased and broadened since its introduction over 30 years ago."
But the Queensland Police Union criticised the decision as a "knee-jerk" reaction, saying the LVNR was a vital policing tool and that it did not support the ban.
"The QPU believes in having as many use-of-force options as practical to keep officers safe and does not support reducing (them)," president Ian Leavers said in a statement to AAP.
Mr Leavers said he feared banning the chokehold could backfire.
"The only thing banning the LVNR ... will do is force police to become more reliant on batons, tasers and firearms," he said.
Debbie Kilroy from Sisters Inside, an organisation that supports incarcerated women and girls, said the state government should legislate the chokehold ban.
"It's unbelievable that the Queensland Police Service is more progressive than the Labor government on this issue," she said.
But Police Minister Mark Ryan told AAP operational decisions were a matter for the police leadership.
Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope agreed the minister didn't need to intervene while noting the ban was well overdue.
"It's a good thing that finally we have caught up with this and got rid of something which has been accepted elsewhere as being inappropriate and potentially dangerous," he said.
Since 2011, the use of the LVNR has been considered in four separate fatal incidents by Queensland's coroners court.
A coronial finding in 2011 into the death of Brisbane man Carl Antony Grillo said if properly applied, a LVNR should have had no impact and would not restrict the airway.
However coroner Michael Barnes said any application of the hold in a "dynamic situation" could be challenging and result in the windpipe being affected, even if momentarily.
The technique had been the subject of an ongoing review by Queensland Police.
Ms Carroll set up a working group in 2022 involving the police union, the Crime and Corruption Commission and medical experts.
