Law enforcement: flash-bang grenades and explosive breaching charges

The law extends California’s crowd-control safeguards and public reporting requirements to flash-bang grenades. It also limits explosive tactics during immigration enforcement while preserving specified task-force and legal exceptions.

What the law does ​

• Bars law enforcement from using flash-bang grenades to disperse assemblies, protests, or demonstrations except under specified crowd-control conditions.
• Requires trained officers, attempted de-escalation when reasonable, warnings and time to leave when reasonable, targeted and proportional use, bystander protections, and medical aid when safe.
• Prohibits aiming flash-bang grenades at people’s heads, necks, or vital organs, and bars their use solely for curfew violations, verbal threats, or noncompliance with police directives.
• Requires a commanding officer at the scene to authorize flash-bang grenade use at an assembly, protest, or demonstration.
• Prohibits flash-bang grenades and explosive breaching charges for immigration enforcement, except in specified joint task forces or circumstances allowed under existing law.
• Requires agencies to post crowd-control flash-bang-use reports within 60 days, or up to 90 days for just cause, and requires the Department of Justice to link to those reports.

Who it affects ​

• State, local, special-district, and federal law enforcement agencies and their peace officers.
• People at assemblies, protests, demonstrations, and other crowd-control incidents.
• People subject to immigration-enforcement operations.