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Cal. Penal Code § 13519.10

Penal Code of California, section 13519.10. Text as published by the California Legislature.

Our reading of the text below: Requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to implement use-of-force training courses and to develop uniform minimum guidelines on use of force, which agencies may use in creating the use of force policy that Government Code Section 7286 requires them to adopt. This is Police Census’s own summary, not the Legislature’s wording.

Location in the code: ARTICLE 2. Field Services, Standards, and Certification [13510. - 13519.15.]
Path: PART 4. PREVENTION OF CRIMES AND APPREHENSION OF CRIMINALS [11006. - 14315.] › TITLE 4. STANDARDS AND TRAINING OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS [13500. - 13553.] › CHAPTER 1. Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training [13500. - 13553.] › ARTICLE 2. Field Services, Standards, and Certification [13510. - 13519.15.]
History: Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 241, Sec. 59. (SB 857) Effective January 1, 2026.
Effective date: 2026-01-01
Source: pubinfo_2025.zip (California Legislature bulk archive; a very large download)

The “Location in the code” line is not a description. California publishes no caption for a section. That line is the chapter or title the section is filed under, from the Legislature’s table of contents, and says nothing about what the section provides.

The effective date is not necessarily the operative date. A section can be effective on one date and operative on a later one; the history note above is the source’s own statement and is shown exactly as published. This pilot does not determine whether a section is in force on any given day.

Text

(a) (1) The commission shall implement a course or courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force and shall also develop uniform, minimum guidelines for adoption and promulgation by California law enforcement agencies for use of force. The guidelines and course of instruction shall stress that the use of force by law enforcement personnel is of important concern to the community and law enforcement and that law enforcement should safeguard life, dignity, and liberty of all persons, without prejudice to anyone. These guidelines shall be a resource for each agency executive to use in the creation of the use of force policy that the agency is required to adopt and promulgate pursuant to Section 7286 of the Government Code, and that reflects the needs of the agency, the jurisdiction it serves, and the law.

(2) As used in this section, “law enforcement officer” includes any peace officer of a local police or sheriff’s department or the California Highway Patrol, or of any other law enforcement agency authorized by law to use force to effectuate an arrest.

(b) The course or courses of the regular basic course for law enforcement officers and the guidelines shall include all of the following:

(1) Legal standards for use of force.

(2) Duty to intercede.

(3) The use of objectively reasonable force.

(4) Supervisory responsibilities.

(5) Use of force review and analysis.

(6) Guidelines for the use of deadly force.

(7) State required reporting.

(8) De-escalation and interpersonal communication training, including tactical methods that use time, distance, cover, and concealment, to avoid escalating situations that lead to violence.

(9) Implicit and explicit bias and cultural competency.

(10) Skills including de-escalation techniques to effectively, safely, and respectfully interact with people with disabilities or behavioral health issues.

(11) Use of force scenario training including simulations of low-frequency, high-risk situations and calls for service, shoot-or-don’t-shoot situations, and real-time force option decisionmaking.

(12) Alternatives to the use of deadly force and physical force, so that de-escalation tactics and less lethal alternatives are, where reasonably feasible, part of the decisionmaking process leading up to the consideration of deadly force.

(13) Mental health and policing, including bias and stigma.

(14) Using public service, including the rendering of first aid, to provide a positive point of contact between law enforcement officers and community members to increase trust and reduce conflicts.

(c) Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to include, as part of their advanced officer training program, periodic updates and training on use of force. The commission shall assist where possible.

(d) (1) The course or courses of instruction, the learning and performance objectives, the standards for the training, and the guidelines shall be developed by the commission in consultation with appropriate groups and individuals having an interest and expertise in the field on use of force. The groups and individuals shall include, but not be limited to, law enforcement agencies, police academy instructors, subject matter experts, and members of the public.

(2) The commission, in consultation with these groups and individuals, shall review existing training programs to determine the ways in which use of force training may be included as part of ongoing programs.

(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that each law enforcement agency adopt, promulgate, and require regular and periodic training consistent with an agency’s specific use of force policy that, at a minimum, complies with the guidelines developed under subdivisions (a) and (b).

Reproduced from the California Legislature’s published archive (pubinfo_2025.zip). This is a scoped pilot of Penal Code sections chosen for policing relevance, not a mirror of the code. All California sections.