September 2018 Report

POST Monthly Report

September 2018

LEARNING TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES BUREAU (LTR) AT COPSWEST

Rayanne Rogers and Catherine Bacon-Davis, of POST LTR, presented an overview of the Learning Portal at COPSWEST Solutions Central on September 19, 2018. The presentation, titled “Training costs too high? How about FREE?” highlighted training and performance support solutions the POST Learning Portal provides to POST agencies to help extend their training budgets, ensure compliance with mandates, and enable networking for training managers throughout the State.

Questions regarding the presentation may be directed to Catherine Bacon-Davis, Learning Technology Resources Bureau at (916) 227-4546.

POST RELEASES NEW TRAINING VIDEO ON MARIJUANA INITIATIVE (PROP 64)

POST has released its newest training video, “Marijuana Initiative.” The goal of the program is to assist California law enforcement professionals in the enforcement and investigation of laws pertaining to the sale, possession, and use of cannabis under the Prop 64 marijuana initiative (known as The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act). Officers will have a greater understanding of the changes in the laws allowing for the lawful adult use of marijuana, will recognize their important role, and how best to enforce those activities that remain unlawful in relation to the use of cannabis. The training video includes segments on possession and use, cultivation, search and seizure, interview and investigation, impaired driving, and policing the business.

The DVD-ROM video program offers group or individual trainee viewing modes and includes printable instructor and trainee documents for either group-facilitated or individual instruction. The DVD was mass-mailed statewide in late September to training managers and training departments at law enforcement agencies in the POST Program. Additional DVD copies may be ordered online using the POST Video Catalog.

A resource webpage dedicated to Prop 64 information and additional training is also available on the POST website. The webpage features Proposition 64 updates to the Regular Basic Course and in-service courses. Additional resources offered at the website include: Proposition 64 and POST Selection Standards, and website links to the California Bureau of Cannabis Regulation, legislation (Proposition 64, Assembly Bill 266, Assembly Bill 243, Senate Bill 643), a Colorado Guide for Law Enforcement, and U.S. DOJ Cole and U.S. DOJ ATF Memos.

For more information regarding the training video, contact Larry Ellsworth, Learning Technology Resources Bureau at (916) 227-2820. For more information regarding the Prop 64 resource page on the POST website, contact Janna Munk, Training Program Services Bureau at (916) 227-4829.

VEHICLE PURSUIT POLICY TRAINING COURSE LAUNCH ANNIVERSARY!

September 5, 2018 marked the first anniversary of the launch of the customizable Vehicle Pursuit Policy Training Course on the POST Learning Portal. Completion of this self-paced course satisfies the training requirement for annual vehicle pursuit policy refresher training as defined in PC 13519.8 and SB 719.

In that time, over 16,000 officers from more than 150 agencies have completed the course, ensuring compliance with the training mandate.

Questions regarding the customizable Vehicle Pursuit Policy Training course may be directed to Catherine Bacon-Davis, Learning Technology Resources Bureau at (916) 227-4546.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – STATUS OF CURRENT LEGISLATION

The following is Legislation assigned to POST in the 2017-18 session and Legislation of interest to POST and law enforcement partners. Note: updates were made on 7/9/18.

View a detailed report on legislative matters pertaining to law enforcement not assigned to POST.

Bill # and Author

Title and Summary

Status of Bill

AB 1888

Assembly Member Salas

Peace officers: basic training requirements.

Existing law exempts a deputy sheriff employed by certain counties to perform custodial duties, as specified, from this training requirement as long as his or her assignments remain custodial related. Existing law requires these deputy sheriffs to complete the training course described above before being reassigned from custodial assignments to positions with responsibility for preventing and detecting crime and the general enforcement of the criminal laws of this state. Existing law, until January 1, 2019, exempts a deputy sheriff employed to perform custodial duties from having to retake the training course described above before being reassigned from custodial assignments to positions with responsibility for preventing and detecting crime and the general enforcement of the criminal laws of this state if he or she is continuously employed by the same department, maintains specified skills, and took the training course within the previous 5 years.

This bill would delete the repeal date of this provision, thereby extending the operation of this provision indefinitely.

Introduced date: 1/18/2018

Status: Approved by Governor 6/1/2018; Chapter 17

AB 2327

Assembly Member Quirk

Peace officers: misconduct: employment.

This bill would require each department or agency in this state that employs peace officers to make and retain a record of any investigations of misconduct involving a peace officer in his or her general personnel file or separate file designated by the department or agency. The bill would require a peace officer seeking employment with a department or agency to give written permission for the hiring department or agency to view his or her general personnel file or separate file. Because this bill would increase the duties of local law enforcement agencies, it would impose a state-mandated local program.

Introduced Date: 2/13/2018

Status: Senate appropriations: suspense file.

AB 2349

Assembly Member
Chen

Humane officers: authorization to carry a wooden club or baton.

This bill would authorize a humane officer to carry a wooden club or baton, under specified terms and conditions, if he or she is authorized by his or her appointing society, and he or she has satisfactorily completed the course of instruction certified by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training in the carrying and use of the club or baton. The bill would also make other conforming changes.

Introduction Date: 2/13/2018

Status: Approved by Governor 6/1/2018; Chapter 20

AB 2424

Assembly Member Lackey

Peace officers.

Existing law defines who is a peace officer and specifies the powers of peace officers. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to peace officers.

Introduced date: 2/14/2018

Status: In Assembly

AB 2504

Assembly Member
Low

Peace officer training: sexual orientation and gender identity.

This bill would require the commission to develop and implement a course of training regarding sexual orientation and gender identity minority groups in this state. The bill would require the course to be incorporated into the course or courses of basic training for law enforcement officers and dispatchers and would require the course or courses to include specified topics, including the terminology used to identify and describe sexual orientation and gender identity and how to create an inclusive workplace within law enforcement for sexual orientation and gender identity minorities. The bill would authorize law enforcement officers, administrators, executives, and dispatchers to participate in supplementary training that includes the topics, as specified, in that course of training.

Introduced Date: 2/14/2018

Status: Senate third reading

AB 2876

Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer

Vehicles: removal and impound authority.

Existing law authorizes a peace officer to order the removal and storage of a vehicle under various circumstances including when the driver is incapacitated or has been arrested, the vehicle is unregistered, reported stolen, or has been used in a crime, or the vehicle is parked in a manner obstructing traffic or blocking access to a fire hydrant. Judicial precedent deems the warrantless removal of a vehicle a seizure subject to the protections of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States that is permissible only pursuant to a recognized exception to the warrant requirement. Case law permits removal of a vehicle by a peace officer in furtherance of an officer’s criminal investigation function, such as removing a vehicle used in a crime for the collection or preservation of evidence, or pursuant to an officer’s community caretaking function, such as removing a vehicle to safeguard the vehicle’s contents, to ensure the safe flow of traffic, or to remove an illegally parked vehicle or a public nuisance. Case law has held that those statutory authorities that permit the removal of a vehicle when the driver is arrested are based on community caretaking and therefore may only reasonably be relied upon when the removal is reasonably necessary for a community caretaking reason such as safeguarding the vehicle or ensuring the flow of traffic. This bill would clarify that the removal of a vehicle as authorized by California statute is also required to be constitutionally reasonable based on the specific situation. The bill would additionally provide that removal of a vehicle is only reasonable if it is justified by preventing a hazard to other drivers, protecting the public from unsafe drivers, or preventing theft or vandalism. By limiting the circumstances under which a vehicle may be removed without first obtaining a warrant, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Introduced Date: 2/16/2018

Status: Senate third reading

AB 2992

Assembly Member Low

Peace officer training: commercially sexually exploited children.

This bill would require the commission to develop a course on commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) and victims of human trafficking. The bill would require the course to include specified topics and components including, among others, recognizing indicators of commercial sexual exploitation, appropriate interviewing techniques, local and state resources available to first responders, and issues of stigma. The bill would require the course to be equitable to a course that the commission produces for officers as part of continuing professional training and include facilitated discussions and learning activities, including scenario training exercises. The bill would require the commission to develop the course in consultation with the appropriate community, local, and state organizations and with agencies that have expertise in CSEC and human trafficking and to include meaningful input from survivors.

Introduced Date: 2/16/2018

Status: Senate appropriations suspense file

SB 978

Senator Bradford

Law enforcement agencies: public records.

This bill would, commencing January 1, 2020, require the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training and each local law enforcement agency to conspicuously post on their Internet Web sites all current standards, policies, practices, operating procedures, and education and training materials that would otherwise be available to the public if a request was made pursuant to the California Public Records Act. By imposing this requirement on local law enforcement agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Introduced Date: 2/1/18

Status: Assembly appropriations suspense file

SB 1331

Senator Jackson

Peace officers: domestic violence training.

Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to implement a training course for law enforcement officers in the handling of domestic violence complaints and to develop guidelines for officer response to domestic violence. Existing law requires the course to include instruction on specified procedures and techniques for responding to domestic violence, including, among others, the signs of domestic violence, and techniques for handling incidents of domestic violence that minimize the likelihood of injury to the officer and that promote the safety of the victim. This bill would require the course to include procedures and techniques for assessing lethality or signs of lethal violence in domestic violence situations.

Introduced Date: 2/16/2018

Status: Approved by Governor 7/18/2018; Chapter 137

Legislation of interest to POST and Law Enforcement Partners

AB 931

Assembly Members Weber and McCarthy

Criminal procedure: use of force by peace officers.

Existing law authorizes a peace officer to use reasonable force to effect the arrest, to prevent escape, or to overcome resistance. Existing law does not require an officer to retreat or desist from an attempt to make an arrest because of resistance or threatened resistance of the person being arrested.

This bill would, notwithstanding that provision, require peace officers to attempt to control an incident by using time, distance, communications, and available resources in an effort to deescalate a situation whenever it is safe and reasonable to do so.

Under existing law, the use of deadly force resulting in the death of a person is justified when it was necessarily committed in overcoming actual resistance to an arrest, when it was necessarily committed in apprehending a felon who had escaped from custody, or when it was necessarily committed in arresting a person charged with a felony and who was fleeing from justice or resisting arrest.

Existing case law prohibits the use of deadly force by a peace officer unless, among other criteria, there is a reasonable fear of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or another.

This bill would limit the use of deadly force, as defined, by a peace officer to those situations where it is necessary, as defined, to prevent imminent and serious bodily injury or death to the officer or to another person, as specified. The bill would prohibit the use of deadly force by a peace officer in a situation where an individual poses a risk only to himself or herself. The bill would also limit the use of deadly force by a peace officer against a person fleeing from arrest or imprisonment to only those situations in which the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has committed, or intends to commit, a felony involving serious bodily injury or death, and there is an imminent risk of serious bodily injury or death to the officer or to another person if the subject is not immediately apprehended.

This bill would make a homicide committed by a peace officer justifiable only if the use of deadly force by a peace officer was consistent with the aforementioned provisions.

Under existing law, a homicide is justified when a person is acting in ~~self defense~~ self-defense or defense of another, as specified.

The bill would make this defense unavailable to an officer charged with manslaughter whose actions were such a departure from the expected conduct of an ordinarily prudent or careful officer in the same circumstances as to be incompatible with a proper regard for human life.

Introduced Date: 2/16/2018

Status: Senate appropriations (as amended 6/26/18) suspense file

SB 1421

Senator Skinner

Peace officers: release of records.

This bill would require, notwithstanding any other law, certain peace officer or custodial officer personnel records and records relating to specified incidents, complaints, and investigations involving peace officers and custodial officers to be made available for public inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act. The bill would provide that this information includes, but is not limited to, the framing allegation or complaint, any facts or evidence collected or considered, and any findings or recommended findings, discipline, or corrective action taken. The bill would require records disclosed pursuant to this provision to be redacted only to remove personal data or information, such as a home address, telephone number, or identities of family members, other than the names and work-related information of peace officers and custodial officers, to preserve the anonymity of complainants and witnesses, or to protect confidential medical, financial, or other information in which disclosure would cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy that clearly outweighs the strong public interest in records about misconduct by peace officers and custodial officers, or where there is a specific, particularized reason to believe that disclosure would pose a significant danger to the physical safety of the peace officer, custodial officer, or others. The bill would allow the delay of disclosure, as specified, for records relating to an open investigation or court proceeding, subject to certain limitations.

Introduced Date: 2/16/2018

Status: Assembly appropriations suspense file

ACR 149

Assembly Member Choi

Relative to the Officer and Medal of Valor Recipient Waldron G. Karp Memorial Highway.

This measure would designate a specified portion of Interstate 5 in the City of Tustin as the Officer and Medal of Valor Recipient Waldron G. Karp Memorial Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering the cost, to erect those signs.

Introduced Date: 1/9/2018