SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nearly a month after the Sacramento City Council adopted a new use-of-force policy for their police department, they adopted a new one that is similar, albeit with some key differences.
Back in May, the council adopted language authored by Mayor Darrell Steinberg instead of the original language from the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission. The mayor's language was as follows:
"Deadly force shall only be used as a last resort."
"Last resort means that peace officers shall use tactics and techniques that may persuade the suspect to voluntarily comply or may mitigate the need to use a higher level of force to resolve the situation safely."
It was passed and adopted in May, but the commission was able to give their feedback on the language before it was implemented.
“Well, our feedback was (that) while that’s a great attempt, we prefer our language…,” said Mario Guerrero, chairman for the commission.
The original language, and the one adopted at the council meeting, was as follows:
“A peace officer is justified in using deadly force upon another person only as a last resort and when reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or are not feasible and the officer reasonably believes based on the totality of the circumstances that such force is necessary.”
While both policies had powerful language tied to them, Guerrero said "context" was the key difference. He said there was a community push to include language regarding "reasonable alternatives," which he described as the given number of de-escalation techniques that a given situation would have.
In one example, Guerrero said that if a suspect runs into a building with no other exit, the officer could wait and call for backup instead of entering the building and immediately using force. In other words, officers could de-escalate the situation verbally or call in someone else with expertise for the situation.
He said the power of the commission's language stems from using "reasonable alternatives" until they've been exhausted.
Language from California's AB392 was also adopted at the council meeting. AB392 restricts when officers can legally open fire. The bill was sparked by public outrage over deadly police shootings, such as the shooting death of Stephon Clark.
For Guerrero, it's a welcome addition to the policy and one that strengthens the policy.
“AB392 is a very short bill but it has very strong language, and 392 and this definition really build on each other...," he said.
Guerrero said the next steps for the policy will be implementation, specifically, updates to Sacramento Police Department's General Order policy and plans on how to train officers.
With Tuesday's vote, Guerrero said that the commission and the community are being taken seriously in regard to their desires for police reform.
“This is an amazing day for Sacramento, for the community, and I think we have a lot to be proud of today,” he said.
