Supervisors Approve Limitations to Security Guard Use of Guns in Response to Banko Brown Killing

In response to the tragic murder of Banko Brown, the Board of Supervisors has passed the legislation brought forth by Supervisor Dean Preston to ban private security guards from drawing guns to stop shoplifting, a move that will bring San Francisco law into conformity with existing state training regulations on the use of weapons by security guards. This legislation aims to prevent more senseless killings of community members and to better reflect California state law.

“I am grateful that the Board has taken this important step forward in ensuring that the people of San Francisco will be placed above property,” Preston stated. “We should be doing everything in our power to prevent something like the killing of Banko Brown from happening again.”

At the time of Banko Brown’s killing, the San Francisco Police Code stated that security guards may unholster their weapons not only in response to actual and specific threats to people, but in the defense of property. The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training’s Use of Force Standards and Guidelines have previously acknowledged that drawing a weapon may escalate an interaction. State training materials already limit unholstering a weapon to situations of defending life, but San Francisco’s law is more permissive and inconsistent with state guidelines. Community members criticized the local law on grounds that drawing a weapon was an inappropriate response to things like suspected petty theft.

“The law has always placed a higher value upon human safety than upon mere property,” stated Geoffrea Morris, founder of Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence. “The passage of today’s legislation just reaffirms that Banko Brown’s life was greater than any alleged property he was accused of stealing.”