BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 71 Page 1 Date of Hearing: March 24, 2015 Counsel: Stella Choe ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY Bill Quirk, Chair AB 71 (Rodriguez) - As Introduced December 18, 2014 As Proposed to be Amended in Committee SUMMARY: Requires each sheriff and police chief to annually furnish a report to the Department of Justice (DOJ) of all instances when a peace officer is involved in shootings that occur in his or her jurisdiction where an individual or a peace officer is injured or killed. Specifically, this bill: 1)States that in instances where an individual is killed or injured, the agency shall report how many cases resulted in criminal prosecution. 2)Provides in cases where both a sheriff and chief of police would be required to report an officer involved shooting under this section, only the chief of police shall report the instance. 3)Requires DOJ to include a summary of the information contained in the reports received pursuant to the above provisions in its annual crime report and classify the data according to the reporting law enforcement jurisdiction. 4)Specifies in cases involving a peace officer who is injured or AB 71 Page 2 killed, the report shall list the officer's employing jurisdiction and the jurisdiction where the injury or death occurred, if they are not the same. EXISTING LAW: 1)Provides that it is the duty of each city marshal, chief of police, railroad and steamship police, sheriff, coroner, district attorney, city attorney and city prosecutor having criminal jurisdiction, as well as other agencies or persons dealing with crimes and criminals or with delinquency or delinquents, when requested by the Attorney General (AG): a) To install and maintain records needed for the correct reporting of statistical data required by the AG; b) To report statistical data to the DOJ at those times and in the manner that the AG proscribes; and, c) To give to the AG, or his or her accredited agent, access to the statistical data for the purpose of carrying out the purposes of carrying out the relevant law. (Pen. Code, § 13020.) 2)Requires each sheriff and chief of police to annually furnish the DOJ, in the manner prescribed by the Attorney General, a report of all justifiable homicides committed in his or her jurisdiction. In cases where both a sheriff and chief of police would be required to report a justifiable homicide under this section, only the chief of police shall report the homicide. (Pen. Code, § 13022.) 3)States that, subject to the availability of adequate funding, the AG shall direct local law enforcement agencies to report to DOJ, in a manner to be prescribed by the AG, any information that may be required relative to hate crimes, as specified, and requires, on or before July 1 of each year, DOJ to submit a report to the Legislature analyzing the results of the information obtained from local law enforcement agencies. (Pen. Code, § 13023, subds. (a) and (b).) 4)Includes within DOJ's annual reporting requirements the number AB 71 Page 3 of citizens' complaints received by law enforcement agencies. These statistics shall indicate the total number of these complaints, the number alleging criminal conduct of either a felony or misdemeanor, and the number sustained in each category. The report shall not contain a reference to any individual agency but shall be by gross numbers only. (Pen. Code, § 13012, subd. (e).) 5)Mandates in any case in which a person dies while in the custody of any law enforcement agency or while in custody in a local or state correctional facility in this state, the law enforcement agency or the agency in charge of the correctional facility shall report in writing to the AG, within 10 days after the death, all facts in the possession of the law enforcement agency or agency in charge of the correctional facility concerning the death. Proscribes that these writings are public records within the meaning of the California Public Records Act and are open to public inspection, except confidential medical information. (Gov. Code, § 12525.) FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. COMMENTS: 1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "AB 71 was introduced to collect needed statistics and to start a dialogue as to what California needs to do to increase community and officer safety and to improve confidence in law our enforcement agencies and personnel. "AB 71 will provide much needed data on officer involved shootings in California. This will allow the state to study the issue and to appropriately adjust law enforcement training and procedures as needed. Through better training standards from POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) we can improve outcomes and foster better relations and confidence with our communities. "AB 71 will also track data on an officer involved shooting where it is the law enforcement officer that is shot and killed or injured. Law enforcement work is dangerous and our peace officers are often placed in situations that involve AB 71 Page 4 life and death decisions. Tracking shootings of law enforcement officers will give California an idea what our law enforcement officers are facing on the street." 2)President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing: On December 18, 2014, amid protests in Ferguson, Missouri, where a grand jury declined to criminally charge police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order establishing the Task Force on 21st Century Policing. "The mission of the task force was to examine how to foster strong, collaborative relationships between local law enforcement and the communities they protect and to make recommendations to the President on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust. The president selected members of the task force based on their ability to contribute to its mission because of their relevant perspective, experience, or subject matter expertise in policing, law enforcement and community relations, civil rights, and civil liberties." (U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Service, Interim Report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing (Mar. 2015), p. 1.) In addressing the issue of transparency, the task force recommended that law enforcement agencies should make all department policies available for public review and regularly post on the department's website information about stops, summonses, arrests, reported crime, and other law enforcement data aggregated by demographics. (Id. at p. 11.) Additionally, the task force recommended that when serious incidents occur, including those involving alleged police misconduct, agencies should communicate with citizens and the media swiftly, openly, and neutrally, respecting areas where the law requires confidentiality. (Ibid.) 3)Reporting on Criminal Statistics: DOJ is statutorily required to collect and maintain data and develop statistical reports related to crime and the criminal justice process in California. Local agencies are also statutorily required to maintain statistical data and provide those to DOJ. AB 71 Page 5 Under existing law, local law enforcement agencies are required to report to DOJ all justifiable homicides committed in that agency's jurisdiction. (Pen. Code, § 13022.) Local jurisdictions must also report on the number of non-criminal and criminal complaints reported by citizens against law enforcement personnel and the number of complaints that were sustained. (Pen. Code, § 13012.) Arrest information from local agencies must also be provided to DOJ in order to maintain its arrest and citation database. (Pen. Code, §§ 13020 and 13021.) This database contains information including name, race/ethnicity, date of birth, sex, date of arrest, offense level, offense type, status of the offense, and law enforcement disposition. (Office of the Attorney General, Criminal Statistics Reporting Requirements (April 2014), p. 8.) Using statistical data from local jurisdictions, DOJ publishes an annual report on crime, as well as other reports as required by statute. This bill requires local law enforcement agencies to report all officer-involved shootings resulting in either death or injury to an officer or an individual. Under current law, only justifiable homicides are reported to DOJ. While it is important to know how many killings are determined to be justifiable, there is no way to compare those numbers to those that are not deemed justifiable. This is due to the lack of data on officer-involved shootings in general. By requiring local agencies to report all officer-involved shootings that result in either death or injury, the data will be more accurate and complete. This bill increases transparency in officer-involved shootings by requiring this information to be published in DOJ's annual report on crime, which is available to the public. Additionally, by requiring information to be included on how many shootings result in criminal prosecution, the bill addresses concerns over accountability in police-involved shootings. 4)Argument in Support: According to the California Police Chiefs Association, "AB 71 would provide much needed statewide data on officer involved shootings where a civilian or a peace officer is injured or killed. This measure would assist the California Department of Justice in tracking the number of incidents of either uses of force direct at peace officers or AB 71 Page 6 uses of force by peace officers. AB 71 is consistent with current efforts on the Federal level by the United States Department of Justice. We believe that this reporting requirement could easily be incorporated into the current UCR reporting forms furnished to the Department of Justice." 5)Argument in Opposition: None submitted. 6)Related Legislation: a) AB 86 (McCarty) would establish, within DOJ, an independent review panel to investigate and provide an independent review of peace officer involved shootings and other uses of force resulting in death. AB 86 is pending referral by the Rules Committee. b) AB 1497 (Chau) would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that requires law enforcement agencies to develop written policies relating to the handling of incidents involving the use of deadly force by a peace officer that resulted in the death of a member of the public. AB 1497 is pending referral by the Rules Committee. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support California Attorneys for Criminal Justice California College and University Police Chiefs California Police Chiefs Association California Public Defenders Association Legal Services for Prisoners with Children Opposition None AB 71 Page 7 Analysis Prepared by: Stella Choe/PUB. S./(916) 319-3744