Tell OC’s Assembly Members: Support Police Accountability for Use of Deadly Force

Write to Sharon Quirk-Silva, Cottie Petrie-Norris, Thom Daly, and other Orange County based Assembly Members to ask for their support for the California Act to Save Lives (AB 392) to address the crises of fatal police shootings in Orange County and California.

Success!!

AB392 passed out of the Assembly on May 29 with support from the entire Orange County Assembly delegation. AB392 also passed the State Senate and has been signed by Governor Newsom!

How It Works:

  1. Fill out your information on the form on this page.
  2. Edit the sample letter we’ve included to include a personal explanation of why you support the California Act to Save Lives, or leave the letter as is if it reflects your thoughts.
  3. Click send and the program will take care of delivering your letter to your Assembly Member.

 

Why Is This Important:

Join us in calling on Orange County’s Democratic Assembly Members to support the California Act to Save Lives (AB 392) when it comes to a floor vote in May, and put an end to the culture of impunity that allows officers to use unnecessary deadly force without consequences.

Graphic by OC Weekly

Police are killing people in California at alarming rates, but are rarely held accountable for these deaths. In 2017, police killed 172 people in California, according to the California Department of Justice. Of the 172 people killed, nearly 50% were Latino and 15.1% were Black. California police departments such as Bakersfield, Stockton, Santa Ana and Long Beach have some of the highest rates of use of force killings per capita. One of the biggest and long overdue problems is addressing the deadly use of force policy in place.

Current law allows police to use deadly force whenever an “objectively reasonable” officer would have done so under the same circumstances–regardless of whether deadly force was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury.

 

The current law has justified police killings, adding to the ongoing distrust between communities and law enforcement. AB392 provides a clear definition for when deadly force can be used. The bill makes sure that police only use deadly force if it is necessary to prevent an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. In other words, police officers can only use deadly force when there was no reasonable alternative, including warnings, verbal persuasion, or other nonlethal methods to resolve or de-escalate a situation.

 

If AB 392 becomes law, police departments can discipline or fire officers who use unnecessary deadly force, and in some situations, local District Attorneys could file criminal charges. The bill is modeled after best practices already in place in a number of departments across the country– and that we know work to reduce deadly use of force.

 

Join us to help save lives by telling our assembly members to vote in favor of AB392.

 

References:

  1. Blood Orange: The Data Behind the Headlines of OC’s Most Controversial Police Shootings