When a police officer uses force resulting in serious bodily injury or death, there is an incalculable level of emotional, psychological, physical and financial left in its wake.

If an individual is seriously injured, they may be left with significant trauma but no financial means of accessing necessary medical and mental health services they may need as a result of the incident.

When an individual is killed in a police encounter, there is often a family left grieving but with limited means of accessing mental services to help with their grieving. They are also left with the high cost of laying their loved one to rest.

The financial and psychological harm of any of these outcomes disrupt the lives of those impacted and can undermine relations between those impacted and law enforcement.

When agents of government seriously harm or kill individuals, it is in the interest of the broader community to alleviate some of the unintended harms of these traumatic incidents.

Senate Bill 299, introduced by Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, is a meaningful step toward this end. SB 299 would broaden access to California’s Victim Compensation Program to include instances of police violence, specifically those resulting in serious bodily injury or death.

The bill would exempt cases in which the individual injured by the police are convicted of a crime resulting in serious bodily injury or death which happened in the context of the police use-of-force.