By Laurel Rosenhall, CalMatters As California debated a new law limiting when police can use deadly force, advocates pointed to Seattle as an example of a place that’s benefited from a similar policy. The Seattle Police Department has made a lot of changes in recent years, and its use of...
Walters: Deadly Force Law Finally and Rightfully Changed
The record of the 2019 legislative session – Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first – is still a work in progress, but his signature on Assembly Bill 392 this week makes it a success, no matter what else happens. The measure, creating a tighter standard for use of deadly force by police, was long...
Walters: Deadly Force Law Finally and Rightfully Changed
The record of the 2019 legislative session – Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first – is still a work in progress, but his signature on Assembly Bill 392 this week makes it a success, no matter what else happens. The measure, creating a tighter standard for use of deadly force by police, was long...
California Senate OKs Rule on Police Use-of-Force Training
SACRAMENTO — The California Senate approved legislation Tuesday requiring officers across the nation's most populous state to be trained in ways to avoid using deadly force, one of two measures intended to deter shootings by police. Senators unanimously passed the proposal requiring that policies on deadly force be standardized statewide,...
California Might Get One of the Nation’s Toughest Police Use-of-Force Rules
After months of negotiations to craft a bill meant to reduce police shootings in California, legislative leaders have landed on a version that appears likely to pass, with law enforcement groups removing their opposition, civil liberties advocates declaring victory and Gov. Gavin Newsom lauding a policy that “will help restore community...
Police Won’t Fight California Use-of-Force Bill
SACRAMENTO — Major law enforcement organizations dropped their opposition Thursday to California legislation that strengthens standards for when officers can use deadly force, a shift that followed changes to the measure. The measure would bar police from using lethal force unless it is "necessary" to defend against an imminent threat...
Law Enforcement Backs Down on Deadly Force Standard—For Now, Anyway
The political landscape in California’s debate over how to curb police shootings shifted Tuesday as law enforcement groups agreed to drop the part of their bill that would lock in the current national standard for justifying the use of deadly force. The move—intended to sustain negotiations on what could be...
Walters: 1872 Law Gives Police a License to Kill
Penal Code Section 196, enacted in 1872 when California was the nation’s sparsely populated westernmost frontier, declares that a police officer may lawfully kill someone while “arresting persons charged with felony, and who are fleeing from justice or resisting such arrest.” Similar laws in other states have been overturned by the...