California is about to hold police to a much tougher standard when it comes to using their weapons on duty, although the new rules are not quite as strict as originally proposed.
Gov. Gavin Newsom intends to sign the bill that both houses of the state legislature have approved.
Families of people shot and killed by police have been frustrated for years when officers can't be prosecuted, or convicted, because existing rules permited cops to use deadly force if it were deemed to be reasonable.
Now, California is poised to change that standard, allowing it only when necessary to defend human life.
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Assemblywoman Shirley Weber of San Diego, the author of AB392, hopes this will help improve relations between the police and the communities they serve.
“It empowers people in the community who felt so powerless, that when things happen, they didn’t have a voice, they didn’t understand the system,” Weber said. “They couldn’t make rational decisions as to what took place, whether it was necessary to be done or not.”
Intense negotiations and lobbying by police removed a provision that required cops to exhaust all other alternatives before opening fire, and another that would have held them criminally liable when negligent.
But Weber still believes this is a key first step toward fewer shootings by police.
“We’ll have to monitor things to make sure it’s working right,” she said. “The state is a large state. You don’t make change simply by passing a bill. It’s a first step.”