California Chiefs Rail Against Proposed Use of Force Bill

Police chiefs from across Northern California came together on Monday to oppose a proposed bill to raise the standard for legal review of California officers in deadly use of force investigations.

“We find ourselves dumbfounded that legislation of this magnitude was introduced without consulting law enforcement stakeholders,” said California Police Chiefs Association President David Swing.

Current California law allows officers to use “reasonable” force against a suspect.

The proposed legislation would change that to “necessary” force, CBS Sacramento reports.

“And the concern of ‘necessary’ is that the police that are sworn to protect and serve the community are going to be expected to exhaust all possible alternatives in hindsight — that’s unreasonable,” said Vacaville Police Chief John Carli.