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Newsom calls for new protest policing standards in California, ban on carotid holds

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateSACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom called for California to adopt new law enforcement standards for crowd control and use of force at protests, following a week of nationwide demonstrations against police violence during which officers have sometimes brutally subdued and arrested demonstrators.At a news conference Friday, Newsom also said he would support legislation to ban the use of the carotid hold, in which an officer applies pressure to the sides of a person’s neck to cut off blood flow and quickly knock them unconscious. The governor said he would immediately direct that the practice be removed from state police training programs.George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, was killed last week when a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, setting off a national outcry. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder, and three other officers face lesser charges.“We train techniques on strangleholds that put people’s lives at risks,” Newsom said. “A carotid hold that literally is designed to stop people’s blood from flowing into their brain, that has no place any longer in 21st century practices and policing.”The Floyd killing touched off mass protests in cities around the nation, including across the Bay Area. As curfews were instituted in response to vandalism at some actions, protesters complained that largely peaceful demonstrations were met with excessive force.Clips of confrontations between police officers and protesters across the country have gone . Newsom cited an incident in San Diego County in which a 59-year-old woman was after being shot in the face by officers with a beanbag round.The governor said he would work with the Legislature, activists, law enforcement officers and journalists to create the new standards for policing protests, which now vary among local departments.He compared the effort to a that tightened the rules for when California officers can use deadly force against a suspect. Newsom signed that law at the California Museum in Sacramento, where he held his news conference Friday.“Protesters have the right not to be harassed,” he said. “Protesters have the right to protest peacefully. Protesters have the right to do so without being arrested, gassed, being shot at by projectiles.”Among his advisers on the new standards will be Ron Davis, a former East Palo Alto police chief and director of the federal Office of Community Oriented Policing Services under President Barack Obama. Davis called on law enforcement to work with Newsom to make changes to their practices.Bay Area Protests“We have to start with the truth and understand that the systems the governor’s talking about are not broken,” Davis said. “They are in many cases operating as designed, and we need to have new ones.”Eric Nuñez, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, said the group would work with Newsom, legislators and others “to find comprehensive and effective solutions to the concerns that have been brought forward.”Newsom promised to sign a bill to ban the use of carotid holds this week by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, a Los Angeles Democrat and former police officer.The restraint tactic has long been controversial because of the potential danger to civilians. California law enforcement agencies reported 115 incidents between 2016 and 2018 in which a person was seriously injured or killed after an officer performed a carotid hold, according to by the state Department of Justice. The data did not specify how many of the incidents resulted in death.About Our NewsroomThe San Francisco Police Commission . Other agencies, including the San Diego Police Department, the practice this week in the aftermath of Floyd’s death.The announcements Newsom made were the first specific policy changes he has backed since the protests over the Floyd killing and broader racial justice issues began.During a statewide “listening tour” this week to speak with members of the black community, the governor said the country has “been paying lip service” for generations to the concerns of African Americans without addressing the roots of those issues. But he largely avoided endorsing laws or steps that the state could take.On Friday, he backed several proposals put forward by the California Legislative Black Caucus, including a by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, to create a task force that would study the feasibility of reparations for slavery.Newsom also expressed support for ACA5, a to overturn Proposition 209, the 1996 voter-approved initiative that outlawed consideration of race and sex in public education, employment and contracting. The governor said he has “long supported righting that wrong.”The affirmative action measure would go before voters, but proponents are facing a tight timeline to qualify it for the November ballot. Both houses of the Legislature must pass ACA5 by a two-thirds vote by June 25.Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:About Our Newsroom

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateSACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom called for California to adopt new law enforcement standards for crowd control and use of force at protests, following a week of nationwide demonstrations against police violence during which officers have sometimes brutally subdued and arrested demonstrators.At a news conference Friday, Newsom also said he would support legislation to ban the use of the carotid hold, in which an officer applies pressure to the sides of a person’s neck to cut off blood flow and quickly knock them unconscious. The...

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Newsom calls for new protest policing standards in California, ban on carotid holds

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