BILL NUMBER: AB 1102 CHAPTERED 09/04/03 CHAPTER 269 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 4, 2003 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 3, 2003 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2003 PASSED THE SENATE JULY 21, 2003 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2003 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 2003 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 7, 2003 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2003 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Yee FEBRUARY 20, 2003 An act to amend Section 13515.25 of the Penal Code, relating to peace officers, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1102, Yee. Peace officers: training relating to the mentally ill. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, in the Department of Justice, to include in the basic training course for peace officers, adequate instruction in the handling of persons with developmental disabilities or mental illness, or both. Existing law requires the commission to submit a report to the Legislature by October 1, 2003, that contains specified information regarding this training. This bill would extend the report date to October 1, 2004, and would require that the report include an analysis of the Police Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) Program used by the San Francisco and San Jose Police Departments, to assess the training used in these programs and compare it with existing courses offered by the commission in order to evaluate the adequacy of mental illness and developmental disability training available to local law enforcement officers. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares the following: (a) Many of the incoming calls received by police and law enforcement departments involve situations with seriously emotionally disturbed and mentally ill persons. Poverty, homelessness, substance addiction, and mental illness are not in themselves police problems. They are health and economic problems that have become law enforcement problems because of inadequate funding and manpower resources, and the stigma the community places upon the mentally ill. Until more resources are allocated to community treatment services, health care providers and law enforcement will share joint responsibility for dealing with severely mentally ill persons. The Police Crisis Intervention Training Program used by the San Francisco and San Jose Police Departments is an example of one joint effort. It is designed to give law enforcement officers additional resources and skills with which to perform their jobs more effectively. (b) It is critical that law enforcement mental health training be developed for the local community. There are as many differences, if not more, as there are similarities in each community regarding issues involving local police, mental health providers, and mentally ill persons. Local police, local staff from community mental health services and agencies, local mental health advocates, and local mental health consumers must work together to create the training and curriculum that is customized for each particular community. SEC. 2. Section 13515.25 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 13515.25. (a) The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training shall, on or before June 30, 2001, establish and keep updated a continuing education classroom training course relating to law enforcement interaction with developmentally disabled and mentally ill persons. The training course shall be developed by the commission in consultation with appropriate community, local, and state organizations and agencies that have expertise in the area of mental illness and developmental disability, and with appropriate consumer and family advocate groups. In developing the course, the commission shall also examine existing courses certified by the commission that relate to mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons. The commission shall make the course available to law enforcement agencies in California. (b) The course described in subdivision (a) shall consist of classroom instruction and shall utilize interactive training methods to ensure that the training is as realistic as possible. The course shall include, at a minimum, core instruction in all of the following: (1) The cause and nature of mental illnesses and developmental disabilities. (2) How to identify indicators of mental illness and developmental disability and how to respond appropriately in a variety of common situations. (3) Conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques for potentially dangerous situations involving mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons. (4) Appropriate language usage when interacting with mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons. (5) Alternatives to lethal force when interacting with potentially dangerous mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons. (6) Community and state resources available to serve mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons and how these resources can be best utilized by law enforcement to benefit the mentally ill and developmentally disabled community. (c) The commission shall submit a report to the Legislature by October 1, 2004, that shall include all of the following: (1) A description of the process by which the course was established, including a list of the agencies and groups that were consulted. (2) Information on the number of law enforcement agencies that utilized, and the number of officers that attended, the course or other courses certified by the commission relating to mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons from July 1, 2001, to July 1, 2003, inclusive. (3) Information on the number of law enforcement agencies that utilized, and the number of officers that attended, courses certified by the commission relating to mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons from July 1, 2000, to July 1, 2001, inclusive. (4) An analysis of the Police Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) Program used by the San Francisco and San Jose Police Departments, to assess the training used in these programs and compare it with existing courses offered by the commission in order to evaluate the adequacy of mental illness and developmental disability training available to local law enforcement officers. (d) The Legislature encourages law enforcement agencies to include the course created in this section, or any other course certified by the commission relating to mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons, as part of their advanced officer training program. (e) It is the intent of the Legislature to reevaluate, on the basis of its review of the report required in subdivision (c), the extent to which law enforcement officers are receiving adequate training in how to interact with mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons. SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: To override current law and extend by one year the date by which the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission is required to submit to the Legislature a specified report relating to peace officer training regarding persons with developmental disabilities or mental illness, it is necessary that this act go into immediate effect.