California weighs opposing plans to deter killings by police

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are battling over how to cut down on police shootings as they consider two radically different proposals.

The measures have stirred an emotional debate over the safety of both officers and those they’re tasked with protecting in the nation’s most populous state.

A legislative committee is expected to advance a first-in-the-nation measure Tuesday restricting when police can use deadly force.

The bill sparked by last year’s shooting of unarmed vandalism suspect Stephon Clark would allow police to kill only if there is no reasonable alternative, such as verbal persuasion or other non-lethal methods of resolution or de-escalation.

It faces intense opposition from law enforcement groups, which support a plan requiring that every department have policies on when officers should use de-escalation tactics and other alternatives to deadly force.