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A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 20 augusT 2019

California governor signs law to limit shootings by police

By DON THOMPSON grandparents’ backyard,
Associated Press firing 20 times when he
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) turned with something in his
— Spurred by the fatal po- hand that turned out to be
lice shooting of a young a cellphone. Clark’s rela-
unarmed black man that tives were among those at
roiled California’s capital the signing ceremony.
city, state lawmakers ap- Yet Plumas County sher-
proved changes to the iff’s Deputy Ed Obayashi,
nation’s oldest law gov- a use-of-force consultant
erning when officers can to law enforcement agen-
use deadly force and it cies, said the new law
was signed by the gover- wouldn’t have saved Clark
nor Monday, though even nor changed prosecutors’
supporters aren’t sure it will decision not to charge the
save many lives. officers.
“It’s an open-ended ques- Robert Weisberg, co-direc-
tion,” Gov. Gavin Newsom tor of the Stanford Criminal
said after adding his signa- Justice Center and an ex-
ture to the bill during a cer- pert on use-of-force law,
emony in an open court- said he expects even the
yard to hold the crowd of scaled back law to make a
legislators, family members difference.
of those killed in police Gov. Gavin Newsom holds up the measure by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, left, “The original impetus, of
shootings and advocates, that he signed that limits the use of lethal force by law enforcement Sacramento, Calif., Monday, course, was to have a very,
many of them black or La- Aug. 19, 2019. very dramatic change in
tino. “This is remarkable to Associated Press the law which would signifi-
get to this moment on a bill thal force. ocratic Assemblywoman sues, said California Police cantly limit the legal power
that was so controversial, The new law will allow po- Shirley Weber of San Diego, Chiefs Association Presi- of the police to use lethal
but it means nothing un- lice to use deadly force said the major elements of dent Ron Lawrence. force,” he said.
less we make this moment only when “necessary” to the bill “are still there, and “Officers, when they’re in But the standard already
meaningful.” defend against an immi- they will make a difference that moment of fight or set by court rulings is that
Supporters and law en- nent threat of death or seri- in California and the na- flight ... they’re going to re- officers must have thought
forcement officials said the ous injury to officers or by- tion.” sort to muscle memory and in the heat of the moment
new standards, which take standers. The measure still contains what they’ve been trained that deadly force was nec-
effect Jan. 1, are among It passed with bipartisan the strongest language of to do,” said Lawrence, essary, so the law’s new
the nation’s most compre- support after major police any state, according to chief of the Citrus Heights language “is really a kind of
hensive when combined organizations won conces- the American Civil Liber- police department in sub- nominal and maybe sym-
with more police training. sions and ended their ve- ties Union, which proposed urban Sacramento. “Are bolic change,” Weisberg
But they must be coupled, hement opposition. the bill and negotiated the they going to worry about said. “It’s still all going to be
Newsom said, with cultural Lawmakers dropped an ex- changes. the law and potentially be- about what is reasonably
and systemic changes in- plicit definition of “neces- Yet several police agencies ing criminalized? Of course, necessary.”
cluding more transparency sary” that said officers could said the new law, which re- but at the end of the day Yet it may prompt a new
and a rebuilding of trust use maximum force only places one passed in 1872, they’re going to resort to attitude by police, pros-
with the community. when there was “no rea- simply codifies policies al- the way they’ve been ecutors and the public, he
California’s old standard sonable alternative.” They ready used in major Cali- trained.” said, making it less likely
made it rare for police of- also removed an explicit fornia cities that emphasize One catalyst was last that police will shoot first
ficers to be charged follow- requirement that officers try de-escalation. year’s fatal shooting of Ste- and more likely that they
ing a shooting and rarer still to de-escalate confronta- A more significant deter- phon Clark, whose death could be prosecuted and
for them to be convicted. tions. Law enforcement of- rent is a pending Senate sparked major protests in convicted if they do.
It was based on the doc- ficials said that would have bill requiring that officers be the state capital and re- “I don’t want to cast doubt
trine of “reasonable fear,” opened officers to endless trained in ways to defuse verberated nationwide. on the ability of this law to
meaning if prosecutors or second-guessing of what confrontations, alternatives Sacramento police chased change attitudes and to
jurors believed officers had often are split-second, life- to opening fire and how to the 22-year-old black van- change police behavior,”
a reason to fear for their and-death decisions. interact with people with dalism suspect into what Weisberg said. “I think that
safety, they could use le- The bill’s lead author, Dem- mental illness or other is- they later learned was his it will.”q