CA Reps Introduce Orwellian 'Police Accountability and Community Protection Act'

Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) discusses a proposed to significantly restrict when police officers can fire their weapons during a news conference Tuesday, April 3, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

In my April 6 column here on PJ Media, I mentioned the legislative effort in California to address police shootings and change the legal standard by which they are judged. Assembly Bill 931, bearing the Orwellian title of Police Accountability and Community Protection Act, would make it unlawful for a police officer to use deadly force unless it was “necessary.” It sounds reasonable, of course. After all, don’t we want police to refrain from shooting people unless it’s necessary?

But the question then arises: Necessary to whom? At their April 3 press conference introducing the legislation, the bill’s authors and other speakers made it clear. If a police officer’s use of deadly force is deemed to be unnecessary tothem and to people who share their beliefs, that officer can expect to be prosecuted and, if not imprisoned, run through a years-long ordeal that will ruin him physically, emotionally, and financially. And this, they promise, will protect the community.

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