Following prosecutors’ decisions earlier this month not to charge two Sacramento police officers in the shooting death of an unarmed man, Stephon Clark, California lawmakers are weighing a pair of bills to reform police conduct that would precipitate a significant shift in officer training statewide, the Christian Science Monitor reports. One proposal would require the more than 500 law enforcement agencies in California to strengthen internal policies for de-escalation training and limiting the use of lethal force. Another would tighten the state’s use-of-force guidelines and enhance the ability of prosecutors to charge officers for killing civilians.
Clark’s death led Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn to request a state review of his department’s use-of-force policies. In January, the California attorney general’s office recommended dozens of changes, urging the agency to expand its use of de-escalation tactics and require officers to “exhaust all reasonably available alternatives before using deadly force.” A report from Sacramento County’s inspector general last fall prescribed similar remedies after the shooting death of an unarmed, mentally troubled black man by three officers in 2017. The legislation would establish new statewide standards. California last updated its use-of-force law in 1872. The statute permits officers to apply deadly force if they have an “objectively reasonable belief” that a suspect could cause death or serious injury.