Governor Newsom signed AB 392 (along with SB 230) into law on August 19, tightening up the standards for an officer’s use of deadly force (through the use of firearms or otherwise) from what is “reasonable,” to what is “necessary,” under the circumstances (along with providing important training on the new standards). If you’ve read my stuff over the years, you know I’ve periodically criticized some officers for being too quick to shoot, preaching that just because you can lawfully shoot and kill a person under a given set of circumstances doesn’t mean, with the training police officers receive in subduing a resisting suspect, that it was really necessary for you to do so. In other words, while using deadly force may have been “reasonable under the law” (E.g., see Tennessee v. Garner (1985) 471 U.S. 1.), doesn’t mean it was really “necessary under the circumstances” to use deadly force. Well, under the category of “be careful what you wish for,” a “necessary” standard is now the law in California, or at least it will be as of January 1, 2020. In my own defense, I have to say I never advocated that a “necessary use of force” standard be imposed on law enforcement by statute, but rather that we leave it to local law enforcement agencies to establish some common sense polices (as some have) and that individual officers also use their own good common sense (as most do). But now it’s the law, like it or not. You’re going to receive the necessary training (pursuant to SB 230) on the new standards, but if you want to get a preview of the new revised P.C. §§ 196 and 835a use of deadly force rules, I can send you the verbatim statutes as they will be appearing in your 2020 Penal Code.