Systemic Racism
In the following video, two side-by-side charts whiz by at about the 50-second mark:
- “Figure 5: Police Departments with more restrictive use of force: Police kill fewer people per population.”
- “Figure 8: Officers in departments with more restrictive use-of-force policies are less likely to be killed in the line of duty.”
California Assemblymember McCarty Announces Groundbreaking Use-of-Force Legislation
In that video, “Assemblymembers Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) and Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) announced legislation that could, if enacted by the Democrat-controlled Legislature and heeded by police, change how police treat suspects.” (The Davis Vanguard)
The Proposed Legislation in a Peapod:
After Stephon Clark’s death, California may limit when police can shoot
Police have wide latitude to use lethal force. California lawmakers want to change that.
The fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark in Sacramento last month reopened the national conversation about race, policing, and police violence, and California lawmakers are now proposing legislation that would restrict when police officers can use lethal force.
On Tuesday, state legislators announced that they had introduced a measure that would allow officers to use deadly force “only when necessary’ rather than ‘when reasonable,’” said Sacramento Assembly member Kevin McCarty, one of the bill’s sponsors.
William Terrill, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, called the legislation
"a positive step" toward better police and community relations and "ultimately improved police professionalization." ... "At present, the objectively reasonable standard is simply too open-ended and weighted too heavily in favor of the police," he said. "An imminent threat should require the suspect actually brandishing or threatening the officer to constitute legal force," Terrill said. "So any language that fleshes out the objectively reasonable standard more concretely is a positive step."
Specifics of the Bill
The bill is apparently numbered AB931, but I am unable to find the proposed text. I will update this story when I find the text.
This is a community story. Support the Dream Defenders publishes a story every Friday evening shortly after 8 p.m. ET.
Apologies for the sparseness and slight lateness of tonight’s story. Due to a sudden and unexpected death of my wife’s retired cousin, I chose to make my killer matzoh ball soup, and we delivered it to and visited with grieving families.
Addendum
Meteor Blades wrote a terrific story about this bill: Spurred by Stephon Clark killing, Calif. lawmakers introduce bill making it easier to prosecute cops. (h/t elenacarlena in the comments)