Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill strengthening the state’s use-of-force rules for law enforcement to “one of the strongest use-of-force laws in the country,” his office said in a news release.
Announced in an Aug. 19 news release, Assembly Bill 392 was introduced by Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) and supported by Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo). The legislation narrows the circumstances under which deadly use-of-force can be used in California, following a series of incidents across the nation in which deadly use-of-force has made headlines and received pushback from activists and local communities.
“The bottom line is that deadly force should only be used when absolutely necessary,” Newsom said.
In a statement to the Sun, Cunningham called the bill a compromise.
“It allows new training requirements that will help lower the number of deadly force cases in our state to move forward, and preserves officers’ ability to do their jobs safely. I am glad that we can put this issue to rest and start mending the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve,” Cunningham said.
AB 392 changes the language that covers the situations in which deadly force can be used. The bill says that deadly force may be used only if an officer “reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances, that deadly force is necessary to defend against an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or to another person.”
Also called the California Act to Save Lives, the bill was initially introduced by Weber and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) on April 9. It moved through the Assembly on May 29, the Senate Public Safety Committee on June 18, and the state Senate on July 9 before landing on the governor’s desk.
Critics of the bill say that it will restrict officer’s options in the field, increasing the risks of an already dangerous job. The activist organization Black Lives Matter also pulled its support from the bill, saying it didn’t go far enough.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office told the Sun that the bill won’t substantially changed the way it enforces the law.
“In this often dangerous profession, peace officers must sometimes make split second decisions regarding the use of force to protect the lives of the public and themselves. To that end, the Sheriff’s Office trains our deputies in state-of-the-art defensive tactics, but also in de-escalation techniques that can be used in an effort to avoid use-of-force encounters, including deadly ones,” the Sheriff’s Office said in an emailed statement to the Sun.
—William D’Urso
This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 5, 2019.