Around the Bay Area and the state, lawmakers and police departments are starting to consider changes to their use-of-force policies.
On Monday, California’s Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and other key lawmakers backed proposed state legislation that would outlaw sleeper holds. That’s the police tactic of restraining a person by applying pressure to the sides of the neck with an arm. It’s one type of what’s called a “carotid hold.”
Governor Newsom and members of the California Legislature’s black and Latino caucuses are calling for a statewide ban on all of these kinds of holds.
In San Jose, the Mercury News is reporting that the police department will limit its use of “projectile impact weapons” like rubber bullets to when someone is actively attacking someone else.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, a trio of supervisors are introducing legislation that would ban police’ use of rubber bullets and other tools often used to control crowds, like chemical agents, flash bangs or stun grenades.
And as for BART’s police force, their communications department told KALW that among other things, the department is working with the Center for Policing Equity to review enforcement demographic data.
The think tank will release a draft of its report later this year.