BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 702
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 24, 2014
Counsel: Shaun Naidu
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
SB 702 (Anderson) - As Amended: June 2, 2014
As Proposed to be Amended in Committee
SUMMARY : Increases the fine for a person impersonating a peace
officer, and requires the local law enforcement agency that
files charges for a violation of this crime to seize the item
used to carry out the impersonation. Specifically, this bill :
1)Increases the fine to up to $2,000, or both for any person who
willfully wears, exhibits, or uses, or who willfully makes,
sells, loans, gives, or transfers to another, any badge,
insignia, emblem, device, or any label, certificate, card, or
writing, which falsely purports to be authorized for the use
of one who by law is given the authority of a peace officer,
or which so resembles the authorized badge, insignia, emblem,
device, label, certificate, card, or writing of a peace
officer as would deceive an ordinary reasonable person into
believing that it is authorized for the use of one who by law
is given the authority of a peace officer.
2)Requires a local law enforcement agency that files charges
against a person for a violation of the above crime to seize
the badge, insignia, emblem, device, label, certification,
card, or writing.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Punishes any person who willfully wears, exhibits, or uses, or
who willfully makes, sells, loans, gives, or transfers to
another, any badge, insignia, emblem, device, or any label,
certificate, card, or writing, which falsely purports to be
authorized for the use of one who by law is given the
authority of a peace officer, or which so resembles the
authorized badge, insignia, emblem, device, label,
certificate, card, or writing of a peace officer as would
deceive an ordinary reasonable person into believing that it
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is authorized for the use of one who by law is given the
authority of a peace officer by imprisonment in the county
jail for up to six months, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.
(Pen. Code, §§ 19 & 538d, subd. (c).)
2)Punishes every person who designates any nongovernmental
organization by any name, including, but not limited to any
name that incorporates the term "peace officer," "police," or
"law enforcement," that would reasonably be understood to
imply that the organization is composed of law enforcement
personnel, when, in fact, less than 80% of the voting members
of the organization are law enforcement personnel or
firefighters, active or retired by imprisonment in the county
jail for up to six months, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.
(Pen. Code, § 146c.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "A law
enforcement officer's badge is not only a sign of years of
specialized training, it is also a sign of the public's trust.
Those that wear the badge are not self-serving, but rather
public servants entrusted with our public safety. For those
that have not earned this badge to use it in a self-serving
manner while systematically undermining the public's trust is
wrong. SB 702 is a bill to curb law enforcement badge abuse
by increasing the penalty for badge abuse and fraud to match
that of other public corruption crimes. This bill seeks to
ensure that public trust in our law enforcement officials is
not eroded."
2)Attorney General Opinions: Honorary Badges : In 2007,
then-Attorney General Jerry Brown published a formal opinion
on the legality of a sheriff gifting an honorary badge to a
private citizen and what powers or status, if any, that gift
convers on the recipient. The Attorney General reached the
following conclusion with respect to the legality of honorary
badges:
[The] gift of an honorary badge to a private citizen
violates California law if (1) the badge falsely
purports to be authorized, or would deceive an
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ordinary reasonable person into believing that it is
authorized, for use by a peace officer or (2) the
badge indicates membership in an organization whose
name would reasonably be understood to imply that the
organization is composed of law enforcement personnel
when, in fact, less than 80 percent of the members of
the organization are law enforcement personnel, active
or retire, and the sheriff has knowledge of such fact.
(90 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 57 (2007).)
The opinion goes on to further elaborate the factors pertinent
to whether an honorary badge may so resemble a genuine badge
that an ordinary reasonable person would believe it belongs to
a peace officer: "whether the badge is in the shape of a
shield or a star or similar design commonly associated with
peace officer badges and whether the words on the badge
indicate or disclaim official peace officer identity." (Id.
at p. 61.) "This deception requirement may be understood to
encompass the physical characteristics of the badge in
question, such as its similarity to an authorized badge in
shape, size, design, coloring, and markings." (Id. at p. 63.)
With respect to whether the gift of an honorary badge confers
peace officer status or powers onto the private-citizen
recipient, the opinion responded in the negative. (Id. at p.
57.)
With respect to non-peace officer public employees who have
been granted limited peace officer powers but who do not
possess peace officer status (such as animal control
officers), a badge resembling a peace officer's badge may be
provided to and displayed in order for the person "to perform
his or her official duties, for use as identification in the
course and scope of those official duties, provided that the
badge accurately identifies the public employee by his or her
specific limited-powers position." (92 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 46
(2009).)
Previously, the Attorney General has concluded that non-peace
officers, such as a county public defender investigator, are
not allowed to display "a peace officer's badge, a badge which
falsely purports to be a peace officer's badge, or a badge
which so resembles a peace officer's badge as would deceive an
ordinary reasonable person into believing that it is being
used by one who by law is given the authority of a peace
office" (68 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 11, 15 (1985).); however, has
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recognizing that law enforcement agencies may create "purely
honorary positions," as long as no official status is
conferred and no official or official-looking identification
is authorized (59 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 97, 102 (1976).).
3)Penalty Assessments : The amounts prescribed in statute as
fines for violating criminal offenses are base figures, as
these amounts are subject to statutorily-imposed penalty
assessments, such as fees and surcharges. This bill seeks to
increase the fine a defendant could be sentenced to pay for
impersonating a peace officer to up to $2,000. Assuming a
defendant is sentenced to pay the maximum fine of $2,000 under
this bill, the following penalty assessments would be imposed
pursuant to the Government and Penal codes:
-------------------------------------------------------
|Base Fine: |$2,000.0|
| | 0|
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
| | |
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Penal Code § 1464 assessment ($10 for every |$2,000.0|
|$10): | 0|
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Penal Code § 1465.7 assessment (20% | $400.00|
|surcharge): | |
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Penal Code § 1465.8 assessment ($40 per | $40.00|
|criminal offense): | |
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Government Code § 70372 assessment ($5 for |$1,000.0|
|every $10): | 0|
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Government Code § 70373 assessment ($30 for | $30.00|
|felony or misdemeanor offense): | |
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Government Code § 76000 assessment ($7 for |$1,400.0|
|every $10): | 0|
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Government Code § 76000.5 assessment ($2 for | $400.00|
|every $10): | |
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Government Code § 76104.6 assessment ($1 for | $200.00|
|every $10): | |
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
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|Government Code § 76104.7 assessment ($4 for | $800.00|
|every $10): | |
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
| | |
|----------------------------------------------+--------|
|Fine with Assessments: | |
| |$8,270.00|
-------------------------------------------------------
The fine amount including assessments detailed in the chart is
in addition to "actual administrative costs" related to the
defendant's arrest and booking that the defendant could be
subject to pay (Gov. Code, § 29550 et seq.) and victim
restitution for damages impose by the court.
4)Argument in Support : None submitted.
5)Argument in Opposition : According to Legal Services for
Prisoners with Children , "the sentence increases proposed in
SB 702 are likely to result in social costs which
significantly outweigh the social benefit (if any) while also
contributing to increasing the likelihood of those convicted
committing additional offenses thereafter. Both of these
results are obviously undesirable and will exacerbate our
already unconstitutional prison overcrowding problem."
6)Prior Legislation : AB 1448 (Niello), Chapter 241, Statutes of
2007, requires law enforcement uniform vendors to verify that
a person buying a uniform is an employee of the law
enforcement agency identified on the uniform, and makes it a
misdemeanor to fail to verify identity.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None
Opposition
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
SB 702
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Analysis Prepared by : Shaun Naidu / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744