CA Gov. Newsom Signs Police Reforms to Address “Crisis of Trust”

File this under “Laws that should be unnecessary, but unfortunately are not.” Among the criminal justice reforms that California Governor Gavin Newsom signed on Thursday, September 30 and Friday, October 1, was a new law requiring police officers to intervene when they see another officer use excessive force. But isn’t excessive force already illegal? Yes. And aren’t officers already charged with upholding the law? Also, yes. Yet, as George Floyd’s death demonstrated, too many officers are willing to stand around and do nothing while an officer employs excessive force, even as the victim cries out for help. The thin blue line that protects the public, too often becomes a blue wall of silence that tacitly condones the abuse of persons in custody.

As ABC7news.com reports, the package of reforms Gov. Newsom signed included measures that:

• Require officers to report excessive force incidents in real-time.
• Protect officers from on-the-job retaliation for reporting excessive force.
• Set penalties for an officer’s failure to intervene including suspension or revocation of an officer’s certification.
• Allow for the decertification of officers for “serious misconduct including using excessive force, committing sexual assault, intimidating witnesses, making a false arrest or report, or participating in a law enforcement gang,” as well as "demonstrating bias" based on race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or mental disability, among other criteria.
• Restrict the use of face-down holds that can cause positional asphyxia.
• Set statewide standards for the use of "kinetic projectiles" like rubber bullets, chemical agents, or tear gas to disperse demonstrations.
• Require police to give verbal warnings and try alternative de-escalation tactics before kinetic projectiles can be employed.
• Prohibit police from aiming non-lethal projectiles, such as rubber bullets, beanbags, and foam rounds at anyone's head, neck, or other vital areas.
• Restrict the use of less-lethal weapons to situations where a person “is at risk of death or serious injury,” or "to bring an objectively dangerous and unlawful situation safely and effectively under control."

The decertification measures, which essentially end an officer’s career, are important for rooting out the bad apples. Too often, bad cops who wear out their welcome in one department transfer to another locality where they continue their pattern of illegal conduct. One tragic example is the shooting of Kenneth Ross Jr., a 25-year-old Black man, killed in 2018.

On that night, police were responding to a “shots fired” call in Gardena when they spotted Ross running through the park. Officers said Ross failed to respond to commands. One officer, allegedly believing that Ross was an active shooter, fired and killed him. A review cleared the officer of wrongdoing, but brought to light his involvement in three previous questionable shootings in Orange County before transferring to LAPD. California State Senator Steve Bradford observed that such transfers enable "the wash, rinse, repeat cycle of police misconduct" that corrupts law enforcement. This provision of the police reforms was named after Kenneth Ross Jr.; Newsom signed it ceremonially in the park where Ross died.

Yet, officials in California and across the nation realize that symbolism and emotional appeals won’t cut it anymore. The public demands results. Sen. Bradford, who is Black, said that minorities of color “don’t hate the police. We fear the police. We fear the police due to lack of trust.” Attorney General Rob Bonta also conceded, “We are in a crisis of trust when it comes to law enforcement right now, across the state, across the nation.” He hopes the measures taken will provide “concrete solutions… that improve accountability and oversight and transparency.” All eyes will be on California to see if these measures show significant improvement in police conduct.