State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Will California Make It Harder for Police to Use Deadly Force?

Route Fifty: The gap remains wide between California advocates of changing the standard for when police officers use deadly force and law enforcement officials who say such a move would jeopardize public safety.

The legislation, prompted by the shooting of unarmed Stephon Clark by Sacramento police officers in his grandmother’s backyard, failed to gain enough support before the legislature’s final recess at the end of August. California Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a San Diego Democrat who introduced the bill, had already dialed back the proposal, removing a provision from the legislation making it easier to prosecute police who kill civilians in the line of duty in the hopes of reaching consensus.

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