To reduce the use of force by California police, two Democrats began with competing approaches:
Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a firebrand from a liberal San Diego district, aimed to crack down by setting a tougher standard for justifiable police shootings.
Sen. Anna Caballero, a centrist, who flipped a red Central Valley district blue, introduced a more moderate police-backed vision to reduce deadly force through improved officer training.
Yet as mothers —one African American, the other Latina — both lawmakers have had remarkably similar experiences in one respect: They instructed their teenage sons to cautiously navigate encounters with police, and they ultimately felt the police did not treat their sons fairly.
“It’s a difficult conversation to have,” Caballero says in an interview for “Force Of Law,” a podcast following California’s effort this year to reduce police shootings.