California to Cops: Kill Only When ‘Necessary’ Not When ‘Reasonable’

(Image: https://pixabay.com/vectors/brutality-demonstration-man-people-152819)

Leading the way, as usual, California has significantly “changed the narrative” around when it’s a good time for police officers to kill the people they are charged with protecting and serving.

The objective, according to Assembly Bill 392, and which was signed into law by freshman Governor Gavin Newsom on August 19, is to replace the “reasonable” rationale in cops’ decision-making process with a standard of absolute necessity. “Necessary” force rather than “reasonable” force is the new order of the day in California.

The law mandates that police may only resort to deadly force “based on the totality of the circumstances,’’ which, crucially, must also include use of de-escalation techniques and crisis-intervention methods.

In terms of non-lethal force, this also means that cops can no longer beat you to within an inch of your life, or into a blubbering pulp just because they think it’s the “reasonable” thing to do. In California, they must now show cause as to why these almost routine beat-downs are…well… “necessary,” as well.