State seeks compromise on shootings by police

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers worked to find common ground Tuesday between law enforcement groups and reformers intent on adopting first-in-the-nation standards designed to limit fatal shootings by police.

A state Senate committee tied together a police-backed measure requiring more training with a competing proposal allowing police to kill only if they have exhausted non-lethal efforts to resolve or de-escalate a situation. The fatal police shooting of unarmed vandalism suspect Stephon Clark in Sacramento last year inspired the latter.

“To look at these two bills together is a powerful, powerful combination, from my perspective,” said Democratic Sen. Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles.

The move aims to force negotiations between the sides by combining the most progressive elements of each plan. It also may mean no changes will ultimately become law for the second consecutive year, unless the sides can reach agreement on a contentious and highly emotional issue.

“We want to be able to make some change, and it has to be substantive change,” said Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Salinas, who is sponsoring the policebacked legislation.

If the reformer-backed portion fails, “then it all disappears,” Caballero said. “And so what this does is it keeps everybody at the table, negotiating in good faith, trying to work towards a solution.”

The police-backed measure would set a national precedent by creating statewide guidelines on when officers can use lethal force and requiring that every officer be trained in ways to avoid opening fire.

As part of the compromise effort, Caballero stripped her proposal of a section to enshrine in law current standards that let officers kill if they reasonably believe they or others are in imminent danger.

Since that standard has been set by the courts, it would remain if no compromise is reached.

“We clearly have … many, people up and down the state, and experts, who feel that California’s useof-force standard should be revised,” said Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley who chairs the Senate public safety committee and engineered the surprise development to combine the measures.

She said she hopes the committee’s move will lead to compromise after listening to dozens of opponents of the original police-backed legislation describe their loved ones’ deaths in confrontations with police.