Pelosi, Democrats want a national standard for police use-of-force like California’s
Congressional Democrats announced Monday that they want to raise the legal standard for when law enforcement officers can use deadly force, proposing a bill similar to a new California law that aims to reduce lethal encounters.
Gov. Gavin Newsom in August signed California’s law, which declares that police may use deadly force only when it is necessary given the totality of circumstances faced by an officer.
It’s a stricter threshold than the previous standard, which held that officers may use deadly force if the tactics are considered “reasonable” by other police. The law represented the culmination of years of work by California lawmakers following the deaths of unarmed black men during interactions with police.
The new federal bill would change “the standard to evaluate whether law enforcement use of force was justified from whether the force was ‘reasonable’ to whether the force was ‘necessary,’” according to a bill summary sent to McClatchy by the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.
It would also require “that deadly force be used only as a last resort and requires officers to employ de-escalation techniques first.”
The national legislation would also ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants in federal drug cases, according to Pelosi’s office. It would enable individuals to sue officers in civil court.
The office of Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, said that the federal bill is “similar” to the California Act to Save Lives. Bill text had not been released by press time Monday, so it’s unclear just how similar the proposed law is to California’s.
“Right now, the question asked if there is police misconduct and excessive force is to ask have that use of force — was it reasonable?” Harris, California’s former attorney general, said during a press conference Monday, when lawmakers were introducing the bill to the public. “Well, as we all know, we can reason away just about anything. The appropriate and fair question to ask is — was it necessary?”
The proposal follows weeks of protests across the country over the death of George Floyd, a black man, while in the custody of Minneapolis police. Protests have called attention to the in-custody deaths of black men and women, and urged law enforcement reforms.
The California law provides two specific circumstances for when officers can use deadly force: if officers are defending themselves or another person from imminent death or bodily injury or if someone suspected of committing a deadly crime is fleeing law enforcement and officers believe they will cause further bodily harm or death if they get away successfully.
The bill also defines what does and doesn’t rise to the standard of a fear of imminent harm, saying it “is not merely a fear of future harm, no matter how great the fear and no matter how great the likelihood of the harm, but is one that, from appearances, must be instantly confronted and addressed.”
The Global Chapter of Black Lives Matter originally supported the bill, but later pulled it, saying amendments to the bill added due to police concerns had “significantly weakened” it. The original bill had included a specific definition of “necessary” and required further de-escalation tactics by police.
But other groups still supported the compromise, and police groups withdrew their opposition due to the changes made. In fact, the Peace Officers Research Association of California, one of the leading law enforcement lobbying groups, on Saturday released a statement advocating for California’s law should become the national standard.
While House leadership on Monday said they guaranteed the new legislation would pass the House, likely before the end of June, it’s less clear if the legislation will be taken up by the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the legislation Monday, and no congressional Republicans were present at the press conference hosted by Democrats.
Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, said President Donald Trump is still considering the legislation. She noted Monday that there is still no bill text.
McClatchy White House reporter Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 1:25 PM with the headline "Pelosi, Democrats want a national standard for police use-of-force like California’s."
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