Bill would limit police crowd-control tactics.
Bill limiting police crowd-control tactics advances in Sacramento
With the outrage still fresh over law enforcement’s heavy-handed response to protests decrying police brutality, California’s Legislature on Friday took a step toward banning the use of tear gas and setting strict new limits on when authorities can fire rubber bullets and beanbag rounds.
The restrictions are part of a long list of proposals state lawmakers are considering this session that are meant to rein in police power and bolster accountability measures, such as bills to permanently revoke the badges of officers who commit crimes and require outside investigations of police killings.
Some are changes long sought by civil liberties groups and activists who hope the tide finally has turned in a Legislature they say was long deferential to law enforcement. Others draw their inspiration from the controversies that have embroiled police this summer.
The first bill that advanced through the state Senate Public Safety Committee on Friday would prohibit police from us
ing “kinetic energy projectiles,” the industry term for the weapons, to disperse a crowd or because protesters are violating curfews. Instead, it would allow them to be fired only “at a specific target who presents a clear and imminent threat to themselves, the officers or other persons.”
The committee also approved legislation that would prohibit the use of carotid neck restraints, also known as “sleeper holds,” and require officers who witness their colleagues committing misconduct to intervene or face criminal penalties — two bills prompted by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day.
All three bills passed through the committee over objections from law enforcement groups.
In calling for the ban on tear gas, supporters argue there is no place for it in civilian policing, noting it is considered a chemical weapon and banned in warfare by the Geneva Convention.
The first bill’s author, Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, cited dozens of cases in which protesters were seriously injured by rubber bullets and beanbag rounds, some of whom were permanently blinded, during racial justice protests this summer.
“No one who is simply exercising the right to protest should be scared to face serious injury or death because of officers indiscriminately firing rubber bullets or using chemical agents,” Gonzalez told the committee. “It is clear that these weapons are inappropriate for crowd control, and we must protect Californians against excessive use of force.”
Law enforcement groups argue that giving officers fewer intermediate options for crowd control means they could have to use more severe tactics, potentially including deadly force.
“Our officers are trained to reduce their likelihood of injury by using these weapons,” said Ryan Sherman, director of government affairs for the Riverside Sheriff’s Association. “This bill could actually have the unintended consequence of additional injury and harm coming to people.”
Supporters counter that police still will be able to use rubber bullets and beanbag rounds but must be more targeted in their use. The legislation also requires police to both warn the crowd and give them an opportunity to disperse before deploying the weapons.
Videos have rocketed around the internet showing police using tear gas, rubber bullets and other weapons against protesters at demonstrations across the country, adding to the outrage over the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and others that initially brought demonstrators into the streets.
Several Bay Area law enforcement agencies have been among those coming under heavy criticism.
Demonstrators have filed a federal excessive force lawsuit against Oakland police over the department’s response to protests in May and June. Last week, the judge overseeing the case issued a temporary order barring Oakland police from using rubber bullets and similar projectiles, and setting limits on their use of tear gas. In San Jose, a community activist suffered a ruptured testicle when police shot him with a rubber bullet as he stood with his hands in the air 10-15 feet away from officers during a chaotic demonstration May 29. And in Clayton, police used tear gas to disperse a peaceful group of high school-aged protesters gathered after the small suburb’s curfew, leading to condemnation from local leaders.
Lawmakers in at least nine states have taken up similar bills banning tear gas, according to research from the Pew Charitable Trust, though those proposals have mostly failed or been watered down.
Friday’s hearing included testimony from Leslie Furcon, a grandmother from La Mesa in San Diego County who needed emergency surgery and was blinded in one eye after an officer shot her in the forehead with a beanbag round during a protest in front of her local police department.
“I will never forget that pain — it felt like I was on fire,” said Furcon, whose son was killed by a police officer earlier this year and said she felt she had a duty to join the protest. “Nobody should be shot in the head and blinded just because they tried to speak up about police brutality.”