First Public Hearing on Use of Deadly Force Legislation

OLYMPIA  (AP) — Washington state has a high bar to criminally prosecute police officers who wrongfully kill people in Washington state_a standard that legislators are debating whether to change.

The House Public Safety Committee held a public hearing Tuesday on two bills stemming from a task force created by Gov. Jay Inslee to reduce the number of violent interactions between law-enforcement and the public. Current law shields officers from prosecution unless they acted with malice and without good faith.

Law enforcement representatives at the hearing were strongly against any legislation that would remove the terms "malice" and "good faith" from the current law. However, many agreed the state needs some sort of data collection to determine if there's a need to change the law.