500 14th St.
Oakland
CA
Introduction of joint resolution by District 2 Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas, District 6 Councilmember Loren Taylor, District 1 Councilmember Dan Kalb, and City Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan in support of State Assembly Bill 392, which just passed out of the State Public Safety Committee on April 9.
Confirmed speakers include Cat Brooks, Anti Police-Terror Project; Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, Love Not Blood Campaign; Attorney John Burris; Attorney Dan Siegel, APTP; and Jose Pavon of CURYJ.
The Oakland City Council Rules Committee meets right after this press conference at 10:45. This proposed resolution will be brought before that committee.
APTP is also looking into introducing a similar control on OPD’s use of force as a city ordinance.
“AB 392 is known as the California Act to Save Lives because it seeks to strengthen the rules for police use of force, particularly deadly force. The current legal standard on police use of force was written in 1872 and allows police to shoot and kill an individual whenever it is considered “justified.” According to a fact sheet from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of California, the current legal standard not only “fails to include best practices but authorizes deadly force that would violate the U.S. constitution.”
“Furthermore, according to the ACLU, Alliance for Boys and Men of Color with PolicyLink, Anti Police-Terror Project, Black Lives Matter – California, the California Faculty Association, and PICO of California, among others, police kill people at a rate 37% higher in California than the national average, and in 2017, California police officers killed 172 people, half of whom were unarmed. Presently, police kill more people in California than in any other state with three out of four of those people being people of color. Black people are three times more likely to be victims of police violence.”
“The controversy surrounding the recent shooting death of a sleeping homeless man in Oakland illustrates our urgent duty to follow through on amending the Oakland Police Department’s use of force policy and fully supporting our independent Police Commission in doing this necessary work.”