In most substantiated chokehold cases, the review board has recommended that the police commissioner, who has final say, impose the stiffest form of departmental discipline, which can include suspension or termination. The board did so in five of the cases in 2014. But rather than severely penalizing officers who violate the ban, the Police Department has in recent years meted out little or no punishment.

In the aftermath of Mr. Garner’s death, top police officials are debating whether to go further and alter the ban to formally allow chokeholds in life-or-death situations.

At the same time, top officials are strongly considering eliminating the term “chokehold” from The Patrol Guide, the department’s internal rulebook, and replacing it with any “pressure on the neck,” said a police official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the discussions, over a variety of use-of-force policies, had yet to reach any conclusion.

“It was a poor choice of words when we put it out in 1993,” the official said. “It did not capture all the dangerous restraints around the neck.” Whether to adopt an exemption for cases where deadly force would be justified has yet to be presented to Commissioner William J. Bratton for a final decision.

The number of chokehold complaints filed with the board has remained relatively steady, with 222 last year compared with 179 in 2013 (and two substantiated) and 240 complaints in 2009 (and three substantiated). With little change in the number of complaints, the increase in those substantiated in 2014 pointed to changes in how the board evaluated such complaints under the leadership of Richard D. Emery, who was appointed as chairman on July 17.