Today, Laurel Rosenhall, a reporter for the nonprofit news site CalMatters, catches us up on state lawmakers’ efforts to curb police shootings. Earlier, I talked with her about this year’s legislation, which she’s been tracking in a podcast called “Force of Law.”
This is part of a collaboration between The New York Times and CalMatters.
Here is Rosenhall’s update:
California is on the brink of passing a law meant to reduce police shootings. That may not sound very surprising given the politics of this blue state, where Democrats hold every statewide office and about three-quarters of the seats in the Legislature. Or given the toll of police shootings on its people: California police officers kill someone, on average, every two to three days — a rate that’s higher than the national average.
Lawmakers shelved a bill last year to set a tougher standard for the police to use deadly force. It was inspired by the death of Stephon Clark, who was shot by the Sacramento police in his grandparents’ backyard after officers mistook the cellphone he was holding for a gun. Its failure was in part attributed to the sway police unions have in the Capitol.
This year, as legislative leaders urged civil rights advocates and law enforcement groups to negotiate, tensions have flared. Demonstrators marched in Sacramento after prosecutors cleared the officers who killed Clark. Politicians attended the funerals of two officers from the Sacramento region who were killed. And new legislation to regulate the use of force spurred emotional public testimony — from Californians whose family members have been killed by the police, lawmakers who served in law enforcement and a sheriff’s deputy who was shot by a man who killed her partner.
Eventually, the negotiations yielded a compromise that supporters say will give California one of the nation’s toughest statewide standards for the use of deadly force. The Legislature passed the bill this month, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he intends to sign it.
So what does it do?
The bill says the police can use deadly force only “when necessary in defense of human life.” That means there has to be an imminent threat of death or serious injury to the officer or another person. It’s a steeper standard than prosecutors apply now, which says the police can shoot when doing so is “reasonable.”
Importantly, the bill also says the authorities must look at an officer’s conduct leading up to a shooting, including whether the police tried to first de-escalate the situation or use less lethal weapons. It’s an unusual provision and a reason the bill has widespread support from civil rights groups.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” Newsom said last month when I asked what he thought of the compromise. “California will lead the nation.”
In the course of negotiations, lawmakers made concessions to law enforcement that prompted them to withdraw their opposition — but also caused Black Lives Matter to drop its support.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.