Ads by Courage Campaign Demand Critical Changes; Group Says Black and Brown People are Being Killed at Alarming Rates
SACRAMENTO — Starting today, the Courage Campaign, the largest progressive group in California, has commissioned a series of new TV ads that will air in Los Angeles and Sacramento calling on the Legislature to pass AB 392, legislation that was reintroduced by Assembly members Shirley Weber and Kevin McCarty this year to help address the epidemic of police shootings of civilians, including unarmed 22-year-old Stephon Clark by Sacramento police officers.
They will run starting today, April 4, and remain on the air for at least one week.
SEE THE SACRAMENTO TV AD HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLFWm7QsA0g&feature=youtu.be
SEE THE LOS ANGELES TV AD MENTIONING ASM. SANTIAGO HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxE38kpdZBw&feature=youtu.be
The ads come as AB 392 will be facing its first legislative hurdle in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, April 9. The Los Angeles version of the ad specifically calls for the public to contact Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), who received $59,300 from the police lobby during the 2018 election cycle.
The bill would allow officers to use lethal force only when “necessary” rather than the current “reasonable” legal standard — one that allows for officers to make decisions without concern for victims’ lives — that has led to countless officers evading accountability for shootings that are clearly unjustified. It would also bar officers from using deadly force on civilians who are solely a threat to themselves, and allow police officers to discipline or fire officers who unnecessarily use deadly force.
“Senseless killings by police officers in California are nothing short of an epidemic,” said Eddie Kurtz, Executive Director of Courage Campaign. “Black and brown people in particular are being killed at alarming rates. We must enact laws like AB 392 to make critical changes to the way police officers use and are disciplined for deadly force against Californians. It’s time for California police departments to recognize once and for all that black and brown lives matter. Police should never kill when they have alternatives. That’s why Courage Campaign is imploring the Legislature to pass AB 392 into law as soon as possible.”
In California, according to a Washington Post database, police have shot and killed 33 people so far this year. One hundred and sixty-two were fatally shot last year, more than a third of which were in Los Angeles County, although only half had a gun.
Police reform that focuses on de-escalation has proven to make our communities safer and decrease police shootings of both civilians and officers, yet California also has one of the oldest unamended police use of force laws in the country.
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