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Cal. Penal Code § 13652

Penal Code of California, section 13652. Text as published by the California Legislature.

Our reading of the text below: Restricts the use of kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents (rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray and similar) to disperse an assembly, protest or demonstration, and sets the conditions for deploying them. It is about those munitions at crowd events, not a general use-of-force policy; the use-of-force training section is Section 13519.10. This is Police Census’s own summary, not the Legislature’s wording.

Location in the code: TITLE 4.7. Law Enforcement Agency Regulations [13650. - 13670.]
Path: PART 4. PREVENTION OF CRIMES AND APPREHENSION OF CRIMINALS [11006. - 14315.] › TITLE 4.7. Law Enforcement Agency Regulations [13650. - 13670.]
History: Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 241, Sec. 60. (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) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents shall not be used by any law enforcement agency to disperse any assembly, protest, or demonstration.

(b) Kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents shall only be deployed by a peace officer that has received training on their proper use by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training for crowd control if the use is objectively reasonable to defend against a threat to life or serious bodily injury to any individual, including any peace officer, or to bring an objectively dangerous and unlawful situation safely and effectively under control, and only in accordance with all of the following requirements:

(1) De-escalation techniques or other alternatives to force have been attempted, when objectively reasonable, and have failed.

(2) Repeated, audible announcements are made announcing the intent to use kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents and the type to be used, when objectively reasonable to do so. The announcements shall be made from various locations, if necessary, and delivered in multiple languages, if appropriate.

(3) Persons are given an objectively reasonable opportunity to disperse and leave the scene.

(4) An objectively reasonable effort has been made to identify persons engaged in violent acts and those who are not, and kinetic energy projectiles or chemical agents are targeted toward those individuals engaged in violent acts. Projectiles shall not be aimed indiscriminately into a crowd or group of persons.

(5) Kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents are used only with the frequency, intensity, and in a manner that is proportional to the threat and objectively reasonable.

(6) Officers shall minimize the possible incidental impact of their use of kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents on bystanders, medical personnel, journalists, or other unintended targets.

(7) An objectively reasonable effort has been made to extract individuals in distress.

(8) Medical assistance is promptly provided, if properly trained personnel are present, or procured, for injured persons, when it is reasonable and safe to do so.

(9) Kinetic energy projectiles shall not be aimed at the head, neck, or any other vital organs.

(10) Kinetic energy projectiles or chemical agents shall not be used by any law enforcement agency solely due to any of the following:

(A) A violation of an imposed curfew.

(B) A verbal threat.

(11) If the chemical agent to be deployed is tear gas, only a commanding officer at the scene of the assembly, protest, or demonstration may authorize the use of tear gas.

(d) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Kinetic energy projectiles” means any type of device designed as less lethal, to be launched from any device as a projectile that may cause bodily injury through the transfer of kinetic energy and blunt force trauma. For purposes of this section, the term includes, but is not limited to, items commonly referred to as rubber bullets, plastic bullets, beanbag rounds, and foam tipped plastic rounds.

(2) “Chemical agents” means any chemical that can rapidly produce sensory irritation or disabling physical effects in humans, which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure. For purposes of this section, the term includes, but is not limited to, chloroacetophenone tear gas, commonly known as CN tear gas; 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile gas, commonly known as CS gas; and items commonly referred to as pepper balls, pepper spray, or oleoresin capsicum.

(e) This section does not apply within any county detention facility or any correctional facility of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

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.