BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair S
2011-2012 Regular Session B
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SB 1254( La Malfa)
As Amended April 9, 2012
Hearing date: April 24, 2012
Penal Code
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CUSTODIAL OFFICERS: TRINITY AND YUBA
HISTORY
Source: Yuba County Sheriff; Trinity County Sheriff
Prior Legislation:AB 1695 (Bell) - Ch. 575, Stats. 2010
AB 2215 (Berryhill) - Ch. 15, Stats. 2008
AB 151 (Berryhill) - Ch. 84, Stats. 2007
AB 272 (Matthews) - Ch.127, Stats. 2005
AB 1931 (La Malfa) - Ch. 516, Stats. 2004
AB 1254 (La Malfa) - Ch. 70, Stats. 2003
SB 570 (Chesbro) - Ch. 710, Stats. 2003
AB 2346 (Dickerson) - Ch. 185, Stats. 2002
SB 926 (Battin) - Ch. 68, Stats. 2001
SB 1762 (Alpert) - Ch. 61, Stats. 2000
AB 574 (Villariagosa) - Ch. 950, Stats. 1996
Support: California State Sheriffs' Association
Opposition:None known
KEY ISSUE
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SHOULD TRINITY AND YUBA COUNTIES BE GRANTED THE AUTHORITY CURRENTLY
GRANTED TO SEVERAL OTHER COUNTIES TO EMPLOY "CUSTODIAL DEPUTY
SHERIFFS" WHO ARE "EMPLOYED TO PERFORM DUTIES EXCLUSIVELY OR
INITIALLY RELATING TO CUSTODIAL ASSIGNMENTS," AS SPECIFIED?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to grant to Trinity and Yuba
counties the authority currently granted to several other
counties to employ "custodial deputy sheriffs" who are "employed
to perform duties exclusively or initially relating to custodial
assignments," pursuant to Penal Code Section 830.1(c).
Existing law provides that any deputy sheriff of the County of
Los Angeles, and any deputy sheriff of the counties of Butte,
Calaveras, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake,
Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Plumas, Riverside, San Benito, San
Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano,
Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, and Tuolumne who is
employed to perform duties exclusively or initially relating to
custodial assignments with responsibilities for maintaining the
operations of county custodial facilities, including the
custody, care, supervision, security, movement, and
transportation of inmates, is a peace officer whose authority
extends to any place in the state only while engaged in the
performance of the duties of his or her respective employment
and for the purpose of carrying out the primary function of
employment relating to his or her custodial assignments, or when
performing other law enforcement duties directed by his or her
employing agency during a local state of emergency. (Penal Code
§ 830.1(c).)
Under existing law , all cities and counties are authorized to
employ custodial officers (public officers who are not peace
officers) for the purpose of maintaining order in local
detention facilities. (Penal Code § 831.)
Notwithstanding Section 831, in counties with a population of
425,000 or less - and San Diego, Fresno, Kern, Riverside, and
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Stanislaus counties - "enhanced powers" custodial officers may
be employed. Santa Clara County is also included in this
section with specified authority for custodial officers who are
employed by the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections.
(Penal Code § 831.5.)
Those "enhanced powers" custodial officers may carry firearms
under the direction of the sheriff while fulfilling specified
job-related duties. They too are designated as "public
officers," not "peace officers"; they are empowered to serve
warrants, writs, or subpoenas within the custodial facility,
and, as with regular custodial officers, they may use
reasonable force to establish and maintain custody, and may
release from custody misdemeanants on citation to appear or
individuals arrested for intoxication who are not subject to
further criminal proceedings. They may also make warrantless
arrests within the facility (pursuant to Section 836.5 -
misdemeanor in the presence of the officer). Training
standards are specified. A peace officer is required to be
present in a supervisorial capacity whenever 20 or more
custodial officers are on duty (for both Section 831 and 831.5
officers).
Existing law establishes within the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation the Corrections Standards Authority and
makes the Authority responsible for general oversight of local
detention facilities, including selection, training, and
education of custodial personnel. (Penal Code § 6024 et seq.)
Existing law requires every peace officer to complete an
introductory course of training prescribed by the Commission
on Peace Officer Standards and Training and requires any
person who completes that training, but is not employed as a
peace officer within 3 years, or who has a 3-year or longer
break in service as a peace officer, to pass a specified
examination, except for specifically exempted persons,
including a peace officer specified in Penal Code Section
830.1(c) who is assigned to perform duties exclusively or
initially relating to specified custodial assignments, if the
peace officer has previously successfully completed the
required training, and since that time has been continually
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employed as a custodial officer by the agency appointing him
or her as a peace officer. (Penal Code § 832.)
Existing law sets qualifications for "holding office as a peace
officer" including that applicants be found to be free from any
physical, emotional, or mental condition which might adversely
affect the exercise of the powers of a peace officer.
(Government Code §§ 1029 and 1031.)
This bill adds Trinity and Yuba Counties to the list of counties
that may employ custodial deputy sheriffs as defined in Penal
Code Section 830.1(c).
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
("ROCA")
In response to the unresolved prison capacity crisis, since
early 2007 it has been the policy of the chair of the Senate
Committee on Public Safety and the Senate President pro Tem to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate prison
overcrowding through new or expanded felony prosecutions. Under
the resulting policy known as "ROCA" (which stands for
"Receivership/Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the Committee
has held measures which create a new felony, expand the scope or
penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increase the
application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate the
prison overcrowding crisis by expanding the availability or
length of prison terms (such as extending the statute of
limitations for felonies or constricting statutory parole
standards). In addition, proposed expansions to the
classification of felonies enacted last year by AB 109 (the 2011
Public Safety Realignment) which may be punishable in jail and
not prison (Penal Code section 1170(h)) would be subject to ROCA
because an offender's criminal record could make the offender
ineligible for jail and therefore subject to state prison.
Under these principles, ROCA has been applied as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress towards reducing prison
overcrowding by passing legislation which could increase the
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prison population. ROCA will continue until prison overcrowding
is resolved.
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation.
On June 30, 2005, in a class action lawsuit filed four years
earlier, the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California established a Receivership to take
control of the delivery of medical services to all California
state prisoners confined by the California Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR"). In December of 2006,
plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against CDCR sought a
court-ordered limit on the prison population pursuant to the
federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On January 12, 2010, a
three-judge federal panel issued an order requiring California
to reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design
capacity -- a reduction at that time of roughly 40,000 inmates
-- within two years. The court stayed implementation of its
ruling pending the state's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On May 23, 2011, the United States Supreme Court upheld the
decision of the three-judge panel in its entirety, giving
California two years from the date of its ruling to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, subject
to the right of the state to seek modifications in appropriate
circumstances. Design capacity is the number of inmates a
prison can house based on one inmate per cell, single-level
bunks in dormitories, and no beds in places not designed for
housing. Current design capacity in CDCR's 33 institutions is
79,650.
On January 6, 2012, CDCR announced that California had cut
prison overcrowding by more than 11,000 inmates over the last
six months, a reduction largely accomplished by the passage of
Assembly Bill 109. Under the prisoner-reduction order, the
inmate population in California's 33 prisons must be no more
than the following:
167 percent of design capacity by December 27, 2011
(133,016 inmates);
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155 percent by June 27, 2012;
147 percent by December 27, 2012; and
137.5 percent by June 27, 2013.
This bill does not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis
described above under ROCA.
COMMENTS
1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
This bill adds Trinity and Yuba Counties to the
existing authority currently granted to Los Angeles
County and 31 other counties to employ deputy sheriffs
who are "employed to perform duties exclusively or
initially relating to custodial assignments" who are
peace officers pursuant to Penal Code section
830.1(c).
This change will provide Yuba and Trinity Counties the
necessary flexibility to properly operate their
custodial facilities, which is even more pressing in
light of public safety realignment which will result
in the transfer of many current state prison inmates
to county jails and other facilities. Custodial
classifications allow counties a wider array of means
to staff facilities and transport prisoners,
flexibility which is particularly important in rural
counties.
2. Characteristics of the Penal Code Section 830.1(c) Custodial
Deputy Sheriff
The Penal Code Section 830.1(c) custodial deputy sheriff
classification is part of a continuum of classifications of
custodial officers in county jails and other local detention
facilities. Custodial officers under Sections 831 and 831.5 are
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not peace officers, whereas a Section 830.1(c) custodial deputy
sheriff is a peace officer, "who is employed to perform duties
exclusively or initially relating to custodial assignments."
(Penal Code § 830.1(c).) One of the most significant
differences between the Section 830.1(c) custodial deputy
sheriffs and Sections 831 and 831.5 custodial officers is that,
as "peace officers," the 830.1(c) custodial deputy sheriffs are
granted all the rights and protections contained in the Public
Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act. (Government Code
§§ 3301 et seq.)
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Being a peace officer also confers a special status under several
Penal Code provisions, e.g. falsely reporting a crime to a peace
officer is an alternate felony-misdemeanor (Penal Code §§ 148.1
and 148.5); giving false identification to a peace officer is a
misdemeanor (Penal Code § 148.9); and, any peace officer listed
in Penal Code Sections 830.1 and 830.2 is allowed to carry
firearms concealed in public while off-duty, even if that
person's employing agency does not allow the officer to carry a
firearm while on-duty. (Orange County Employees Association,
Inc. v. County of Orange (1993) 14 Cal.App.4th 575, 582.)
Additionally, an honorably retired peace officer may carry a
concealed and/or a loaded weapon in a public place or vehicle
after retirement. (Penal Code §§ 25905, et seq.)
According to the Corrections Standards Authority the minimum
training required for 831, 831.5 custodial officers and 830.1(c)
custodial deputy sheriffs is the same.<1> Each must complete an
Adult Corrections Officer core course within their first year of
assignment that consists of 176 hours of training in addition to
first aid and CPR training. They are also required to receive
24 hours of annual training following their initial year. Each
of these officers must also complete the Penal Code Section 832
course, certified by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards
and Training (POST). The Section 832 course consists of a basic
40-hour arrest training course as well as 24 hours of firearms
training that would only be required of those custodial officers
who are authorized to carry firearms.
By contrast, the level of training required of a regular peace
officer consists of a minimum 664 hour POST certified training
course; however, according to POST, most academies actually
require 850-1278 hours of training.
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<1> Except for the 40-hour arrest training course (Penal Code §
832), these training standards are not statutorily mandated but
are nonetheless followed by every sheriff's department and
probation department in California. Corrections Standards
Authority, a division of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, establishes standards and guidelines for the
training of local correctional officers.
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Trinity and Yuba - and all counties - may utilize Section 831
non-peace officer custodial officers; however, these officers may
not carry firearms. (Penal Code § 831(b).) Further, according
to the 2010 Census, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, both
Trinity and Yuba counties have a population below 425,000 and
therefore may utilize Section 831.5 custodial officers. However,
there are limitations on the authority and use of Section 831.5
custodial officers. For example, 831.5 custodial officers may
not perform strip searches (unless they are employed in Santa
Clara County), have limited arrest powers, and are limited in
their "armed duty" roles. Another limitation on the use of both
Section 831 and 831.5 non-peace officer custodial officers is
that, whenever 20 or more of such officers are on duty, there
must be at least one 830.1 peace officer, who has received the
full 664-plus hour basic training for Section 830.1(a) deputy
sheriffs, on duty at the same time to supervise the custodial
officers. (Penal Code § 831(d) and 831.5(d).)
SHOULD TRINITY AND YUBA COUNTIES BE AUTHORIZED TO HIRE CUSTODIAL
DEPUTY SHERIFFS?
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