POST Monthly Report

November 2020

Keeping you up to date on POST projects

CBS/48 Hours Films at the Northern California Regional Public Safety Training Authority

(Pictured left to right: NorCal Executive Director Stephen Quinn, POST ICI Program Manager Gerald Fernandez, CBS/48 Hours Producer Greg Fisher, CBS/48 Hours Journalist/Host Erin Moriarty, and POST Retired Annuitant Robert Ziglar)

On October 21, 2020, members of the POST Training Program Services Bureau visited the Northern California Regional Public Safety Training Authority (NorCal), where CBS/48 Hours filmed a portion of the Robert Presley Institute of Criminal Investigation (ICI) Homicide Course. CBS/48 Hours had previously featured a story about Christie Wilson, who disappeared from a casino in Placer County in October 2005. Her killer was convicted a year later with no body and no murder weapon found. Almost 15 years after she disappeared, her body was finally recovered in August 2020 as a result of relentless detective work by Investigator Donald Murchison and Lieutenant Nuno Tavares of the Placer County District Attorney’s Office, who are both instructors in NorCal’s ICI Homicide Course. As such, CBS/48 Hours wanted to bring closure to the Christie Wilson story, which will be aired in the next few months.

Questions regarding this article may be directed to Law Enforcement Consultant Gerald Fernandez, Training Program Services Bureau, at (916) 227-3933.

Basic Course Scenario Management Update

On November 17, 2020, POST’s Basic Training Bureau hosted a two-hour Basic Course Scenario Management Update at POST in West Sacramento through Zoom. This meeting was held to provide key updates on scenario management to staff involved in the scenario testing process, including basic academy Scenario Managers, Directors, Coordinators, and other academy staff. Sixty attendees, representing multiple basic academies from throughout the state, were in attendance. During the meeting, attendees learned about updates to scenario training and testing specifications, required training prior to scenario testing, test management, and scenario test security protocols.

In alignment with COVID-19 guidelines, the Basic Course Scenario Management Update was facilitated with the priority of health in mind. The first of its kind, this specialized update was held through Zoom so attendees could participate remotely. POST staff provided valuable information on an effective platform to California academies without compromising the health of academy staff.

Questions regarding the Scenario Manager Course may be directed to Staff Services Manager I (Specialist) Anita Finner, at (916) 227-3901.

POST Conducts Workshop to Revise the Crowd Management Guidelines

On November 17 and 18, 2020, the Management Counseling and Projects Bureau (MCPB), and the Los Angeles County Regional Training Center partnered in Huntington Beach, CA to conduct a workshop to revise the POST Crowd Management Guidelines. The work group was comprised of subject matter experts, and a diverse group of community representatives that worked diligently to modernize the Crowd Management Guidelines.

Questions regarding the workshop may be directed to Law Enforcement Consultant Larry Ellsworth, Management Counseling and Projects Bureau, at (916) 227-2820.

POST Releases Use of Force Standards and Guidelines

On November 5, 2020, the Management Counseling and Projects Bureau (MCPB) released the POST Use of Force Standards and Guidelines, which are now available to view on the POST Website.

Senate Bill 230, enacted on September 12, 2019, required the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to, “develop uniform, minimum guidelines for adoption and promulgation by California law enforcement agencies for the use of force, as specified.” It also required, “each law enforcement agency to maintain a policy that provides guidelines on the use of force, utilizing de-escalation techniques and other alternatives to force when feasible, specific guidelines for the application of deadly force, and factors for evaluating and reviewing all use of force incidents, among other things.” In order to comply with this law, all agencies must update and/or completed their policies with the required standards before January 1, 2021.

Questions regarding the POST Use of Force Standards and Guidelines may be directed to Law Enforcement Consultant Brad NewMyer at (916) 227-3893.

POST Offers Online Version of Training Administrator’s Course

During November 2020, the Training Delivery and Compliance Bureau held two online training presentations of the Training Administrator’s Course for training managers in Regions 3 and 8. This course specifically addresses how to get a new course certified, how to modify a course, POST regulations as it pertains to courses, and all details involving the course certification process. The training was well attended and provided the attendees with all the information necessary to get started in the course certification journey. POST staff intend to host this training monthly with the dates being advertised through POST PASS to all regions.

Questions regarding the online version of the Training Administrator’s Course may be directed to Christine Ford, Training Delivery Compliance Bureau, at (916) 227-0472.

Legislative Update

Status of Current Legislation

The following is Legislation assigned to POST in the 2020-21 session. (Updated 10/21/2020)

View a detailed report on legislative matters pertaining to law enforcement and POST.

Bill # and Author	Title and Summary	Status of Bill
AB 66 Assembly Member Gonzalez	Police: use of force. Would prohibit the use of kinetic energy projectiles or chemical agents, as defined, by any law enforcement agency to disperse any assembly, protest, demonstration, or other gathering of persons, except in compliance with specified standards set by the bill, and would prohibit their use solely due to a violation of an imposed curfew, verbal threat, or noncompliance with a law enforcement directive. The bill would prohibit the use of chloroacetophenone tear gas or 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile gas by law enforcement agencies to disperse any assembly, protest, demonstration, or other gathering of persons.	Amended Date: 08/25/2020 Status: DEAD
AB 846 Assembly Member Burke	Public Employment: public officers or employees declared by law to be peace officers Current law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to perform various functions involving the training of peace officers. Current law requires peace officers in this state to meet specified minimum standards, including, among other requirements, that peace officers be evaluated by a physician and surgeon or psychologist and found to be free from any physical, emotional, or mental condition that might adversely affect the exercise of the powers of a peace officer. This bill would require that evaluation to include bias against race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.	Amended Date: 06/25/2020 Status: Chaptered
AB 1022 Assembly Member Holden	Peace officers: use of force Current law requires each law enforcement agency, on or before January 1, 2021, to maintain a policy that provides a minimum standard on the use of force. Current law requires that policy, among other things, to require that officers report potential excessive force to a superior officer when present and observing another officer using force that the officer believes to be unnecessary, and to require that officers intercede when present and observing another officer using force that is clearly beyond that which is necessary, as specified.This bill would require those law enforcement policies to require those officers to immediately report potential excessive force, and to intercede when present and observing an officer using excessive force, as defined.	Amended Date: 07/30/2020 Status: 8/21/2020-DEAD
AB 1185 Assembly Member McCarty	County board of supervisors: sheriff oversight Current law establishes the office of the sheriff in each county to preserve peace, and authorizes the sheriff to sponsor, supervise, or participate in any project of crime prevention, rehabilitation of persons previously convicted of crime, or the suppression of delinquency. Current law requires a board of supervisors to supervise the official conduct of all county officers and ensure that they faithfully perform their duties. This bill would authorize a county to establish a sheriff oversight board to assist the board of supervisors with those duties as they relate to the sheriff, either by action of the board of supervisors or through a vote of county residents	Status: Chaptered
AB 1196 Assembly Member Gipson	Peace officers: use of force Would prohibit a law enforcement agency from authorizing the use of a carotid restraint or a choke hold, as defined.	Amended Date: 08/24/2020 Status: Chaptered
AB 1299 Assembly Member Salas	Peace officers: employment Would require any agency that employs peace officers to notify the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training when a peace officer separates from employment, including details of any termination or resignation in lieu of termination. This bill would require an agency to notify the commission if an officer leaves the agency with a complaint, charge, or investigation pending, and would require the agency to complete the investigation and notify the commission of its findings. The bill would require the commission to include this information in an officer’s profile and make that information available to specified parties including any law enforcement agency that is conducting a preemployment background investigation of the subject of the profile.	Amended Date: 08/06/2020 Status: Vetoed
AB 1506 Assembly Member McCarty	Police use of force Current law requires law enforcement agencies to report to the Department of Justice, as specified, any incident in which a peace officer is involved in a shooting or use of force that results in death or serious bodily injury. This bill would create a division within the Department of Justice to, upon the request of a law enforcement agency, review the use-of-force policy of the agency and make recommendations, as specified.	Amended Date: 8/17/2020 Status: Chaptered
AB 1599 Assembly Member Cunningham	Peace Officers: investigations of misconduct Would require a law enforcement agency or oversight agency to complete its investigation into an allegation of the use of force resulting in death or great bodily injury, sexual assault, discharge of a firearm, or dishonesty relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime or misconduct by another peace officer or custodial officer, despite the peace officer’s or custodial officer’s voluntary separation from the employing agency. The bill would require the investigation to result in a finding that the allegation is either sustained, not sustained, unfounded, or exonerated, as defined. The bill would also require an agency other than an officer’s employing agency that conducts an investigation of these allegations to disclose its findings with the employing agency no later than the conclusion of the investigation.	Amended Date: 7/8/2020 Status: 8/21/2020-DEAD
AB 1709 Assembly Member Weber	Law Enforcement: use of force This bill would remove the specification that a peace officer making an arrest need not desist in their efforts because of resistance or threatened resistance from the person being arrested. The bill would also require a peace officer to attempt to control an incident through deescalation tactics, as defined, in an effort to reduce or avoid the need to use force, to render medical aid immediately or as soon as feasible, and to intervene to stop a violation of law or an excessive use of force by another peace officer.	Amended Date: 07/21/2020 Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD
SB 731 Senator Bradford	Peace Officers: certification: civil rights Would provide that a threat, intimidation, or coercion under the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act may be inherent in any interference with a civil right and would describe intentional acts for these purposes as an act in which the person acted with general intent or a conscious objective to engage in particular conduct.	Amended Date: 08/20/2020 Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD
SB 776 Senator Skinner	Peace officers: release of records Current law makes peace officer and custodial officer personnel records and specified records maintained by any state or local agency, or information obtained from these records, confidential and prohibits these records from being disclosed in any criminal or civil proceeding except by discovery. Current law sets forth exceptions to this policy, including, among others, records relating to specified incidents involving the discharge of a firearm, sexual assault, perjury, or misconduct by a peace officer or custodial officer. Current law makes a record related to an incident involving the use of force against a person resulting in death or great bodily injury subject to disclosure. Current law requires a state or local agency to make these excepted records available for inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act. This bill would make every incident involving use of force to make a member of the public comply with an officer, force that is unreasonable, or excessive force subject to disclosure.	Amended Date: 08/24/2020 Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD
SB 1089 Senator Archuleta	Law enforcement: training policies Current law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training in the Department of Justice and requires the commission to adopt rules establishing minimum standards regarding the recruitment of peace officers. Existing law requires the commission to develop guidelines and implement courses of instruction regarding racial profiling, domestic violence, hate crimes, vehicle pursuits, and human trafficking, among others. Current law requires the commission to implement a course or courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to those provisions.	Introduced Date: 2/19/2020 Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD
SB 1392 Senator Bradford	Peace officers: basic course of training Current law requires every peace officer to have satisfactorily completed an introductory training course prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Current law requires each applicant for admission to a basic course of training certified by the commission that includes the carrying and use of firearms, who is not sponsored by a local or other law enforcement agency, or is not a peace officer, to submit written certification to the Department of Justice that the applicant has no criminal history background that would disqualify them from possessing a firearm. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.	Introduced Date: 2/21/2020 Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD

Bill # and Author

Title and Summary

Status of Bill

AB 66

Assembly Member Gonzalez

Police: use of force.

Would prohibit the use of kinetic energy projectiles or chemical agents, as defined, by any law enforcement agency to disperse any assembly, protest, demonstration, or other gathering of persons, except in compliance with specified standards set by the bill, and would prohibit their use solely due to a violation of an imposed curfew, verbal threat, or noncompliance with a law enforcement directive. The bill would prohibit the use of chloroacetophenone tear gas or 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile gas by law enforcement agencies to disperse any assembly, protest, demonstration, or other gathering of persons.

Amended Date: 08/25/2020

Status: DEAD

AB 846

Assembly Member Burke

Public Employment: public officers or employees declared by law to be peace officers

Current law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to perform various functions involving the training of peace officers. Current law requires peace officers in this state to meet specified minimum standards, including, among other requirements, that peace officers be evaluated by a physician and surgeon or psychologist and found to be free from any physical, emotional, or mental condition that might adversely affect the exercise of the powers of a peace officer. This bill would require that evaluation to include bias against race or ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.

Amended Date: 06/25/2020

Status: Chaptered

AB 1022

Assembly Member Holden

Peace officers: use of force

Current law requires each law enforcement agency, on or before January 1, 2021, to maintain a policy that provides a minimum standard on the use of force. Current law requires that policy, among other things, to require that officers report potential excessive force to a superior officer when present and observing another officer using force that the officer believes to be unnecessary, and to require that officers intercede when present and observing another officer using force that is clearly beyond that which is necessary, as specified.This bill would require those law enforcement policies to require those officers to immediately report potential excessive force, and to intercede when present and observing an officer using excessive force, as defined.

Amended Date: 07/30/2020

Status: 8/21/2020-DEAD

AB 1185

Assembly Member McCarty

County board of supervisors: sheriff oversight

Current law establishes the office of the sheriff in each county to preserve peace, and authorizes the sheriff to sponsor, supervise, or participate in any project of crime prevention, rehabilitation of persons previously convicted of crime, or the suppression of delinquency. Current law requires a board of supervisors to supervise the official conduct of all county officers and ensure that they faithfully perform their duties. This bill would authorize a county to establish a sheriff oversight board to assist the board of supervisors with those duties as they relate to the sheriff, either by action of the board of supervisors or through a vote of county residents

Status: Chaptered

AB 1196

Assembly Member Gipson

Peace officers: use of force

Would prohibit a law enforcement agency from authorizing the use of a carotid restraint or a choke hold, as defined.

Amended Date: 08/24/2020

Status: Chaptered

AB 1299

Assembly Member Salas

Peace officers: employment

Would require any agency that employs peace officers to notify the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training when a peace officer separates from employment, including details of any termination or resignation in lieu of termination. This bill would require an agency to notify the commission if an officer leaves the agency with a complaint, charge, or investigation pending, and would require the agency to complete the investigation and notify the commission of its findings. The bill would require the commission to include this information in an officer’s profile and make that information available to specified parties including any law enforcement agency that is conducting a preemployment background investigation of the subject of the profile.

Amended Date: 08/06/2020

Status: Vetoed

AB 1506

Assembly Member McCarty

Police use of force

Current law requires law enforcement agencies to report to the Department of Justice, as specified, any incident in which a peace officer is involved in a shooting or use of force that results in death or serious bodily injury. This bill would create a division within the Department of Justice to, upon the request of a law enforcement agency, review the use-of-force policy of the agency and make recommendations, as specified.

Amended Date: 8/17/2020

Status: Chaptered

AB 1599

Assembly Member Cunningham

Peace Officers: investigations of misconduct

Would require a law enforcement agency or oversight agency to complete its investigation into an allegation of the use of force resulting in death or great bodily injury, sexual assault, discharge of a firearm, or dishonesty relating to the reporting, investigation, or prosecution of a crime or misconduct by another peace officer or custodial officer, despite the peace officer’s or custodial officer’s voluntary separation from the employing agency. The bill would require the investigation to result in a finding that the allegation is either sustained, not sustained, unfounded, or exonerated, as defined. The bill would also require an agency other than an officer’s employing agency that conducts an investigation of these allegations to disclose its findings with the employing agency no later than the conclusion of the investigation.

Amended Date: 7/8/2020

Status: 8/21/2020-DEAD

AB 1709

Assembly Member Weber

Law Enforcement: use of force

This bill would remove the specification that a peace officer making an arrest need not desist in their efforts because of resistance or threatened resistance from the person being arrested. The bill would also require a peace officer to attempt to control an incident through deescalation tactics, as defined, in an effort to reduce or avoid the need to use force, to render medical aid immediately or as soon as feasible, and to intervene to stop a violation of law or an excessive use of force by another peace officer.

Amended Date: 07/21/2020

Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD

SB 731

Senator Bradford

Peace Officers: certification: civil rights

Would provide that a threat, intimidation, or coercion under the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act may be inherent in any interference with a civil right and would describe intentional acts for these purposes as an act in which the person acted with general intent or a conscious objective to engage in particular conduct.

Amended Date: 08/20/2020

Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD

SB 776

Senator Skinner

Peace officers: release of records

Current law makes peace officer and custodial officer personnel records and specified records maintained by any state or local agency, or information obtained from these records, confidential and prohibits these records from being disclosed in any criminal or civil proceeding except by discovery. Current law sets forth exceptions to this policy, including, among others, records relating to specified incidents involving the discharge of a firearm, sexual assault, perjury, or misconduct by a peace officer or custodial officer. Current law makes a record related to an incident involving the use of force against a person resulting in death or great bodily injury subject to disclosure. Current law requires a state or local agency to make these excepted records available for inspection pursuant to the California Public Records Act. This bill would make every incident involving use of force to make a member of the public comply with an officer, force that is unreasonable, or excessive force subject to disclosure.

Amended Date: 08/24/2020

Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD

SB 1089

Senator Archuleta

Law enforcement: training policies

Current law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training in the Department of Justice and requires the commission to adopt rules establishing minimum standards regarding the recruitment of peace officers. Existing law requires the commission to develop guidelines and implement courses of instruction regarding racial profiling, domestic violence, hate crimes, vehicle pursuits, and human trafficking, among others. Current law requires the commission to implement a course or courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to those provisions.

Introduced Date: 2/19/2020

Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD

SB 1392

Senator Bradford

Peace officers: basic course of training

Current law requires every peace officer to have satisfactorily completed an introductory training course prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Current law requires each applicant for admission to a basic course of training certified by the commission that includes the carrying and use of firearms, who is not sponsored by a local or other law enforcement agency, or is not a peace officer, to submit written certification to the Department of Justice that the applicant has no criminal history background that would disqualify them from possessing a firearm. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Introduced Date: 2/21/2020

Status: 8/31/2020-DEAD

The POST Monthly Report is a monthly status report that informs POST Commissioners and the California law enforcement community of recent progress on POST projects and instructional programs under development, and other information of importance to our mission to continually enhance the professionalism of California law enforcement.

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