Senate Bill 147 creates a requirement that when using force, both non-lethal and lethal, an officer must “reasonably believe” that they are in danger in order to justify their use of force. The current law only uses the word “believes,” which leaves unlimited room for an officer to justify use of force, whether it was warranted or not. This bill makes it clear that use of force must be justified by what a reasonable person would have believed, rather than what the officer in question believed.
