BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SB 1454
          Author:   Gaines (R)
          Amended:  5/27/14
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE  :  6-0, 4/29/14
          AYES:  Hancock, Anderson, Knight, Liu, Mitchell, Steinberg
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  De León

          SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 5/23/14
          AYES:  De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg


           SUBJECT  :    Fish and Wildlife:  enforcement:  patrol mounted  
          vehicle video
                      and audio systems

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST :    This bill authorizes the Department of Fish and  
          Wildlife (DFW) officers to have dashboard cameras in their  
          vehicles, as specified.

           ANALYSIS  :    

          Existing law:

          1. Charges the DFW with the administration and enforcement of  
             the Fish and Game Code.

          2. States that all employees of the DFW designated by the  
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             director as deputized law enforcement officers are peace  
             officers, as specified.

          3. Makes it a crime for a person, intentionally, and without  
             requisite consent to eavesdrop on a confidential  
             communication by means of any electronic amplifying or  
             recording device.  (Penal Code Section 632.)

          4.Exempts from this crime a number of law enforcement agencies  
            from the prohibition in Penal Code Section 632, including the  
            Attorney General (AG), any district attorney, or any  
            assistant, deputy, or investigator of the AG or any district  
            attorney, any officer of the California Highway Patrol, any  
            chief of police, assistant chief of police, or police officer  
            of a city or city and county, any sheriff, undersheriff, or  
            deputy sheriff regularly employed and paid in that capacity by  
            a county, police officer of the County of Los Angeles, or any  
            person acting pursuant to the direction of one of these law  
            enforcement officers acting within the scope of his/her  
            authority.  

          This bill:

          1.Allows DWF to install vehicle mounted video and audio systems  
            in patrol vehicles used by wardens.  The warden may use the  
            system to record communications and other actions involving  
            the warden acting within the scope of his/her authority.

          2.Requires DWF to adopt a policy to establish standards  
            regarding the activation of the video and audio system and the  
            preservation and retention of recordings subject to the  
            following requirements:

             A.   Once a patrol vehicle mounted video and audio system  
               has been activated, the patrol vehicle mounted video and  
               audio system shall record the duration of an encounter.

             B.   DWF shall retain a recording from a patrol vehicle  
               mounted video and audio system for a minimum of 90 days  
               and a maximum of one year, except if the recording is  
               necessary for a pending, or reasonably foreseeable civil  
               or criminal action, or for training or administrative  
               purposes.


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             C.   DWF shall provide access to a recording from a patrol  
               vehicle mounted video and audio system in accordance with  
               all other provisions of law.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, cost  
          pressures, in the low millions of dollars, to the General Fund  
          and various special funds to DFW, for dashboard cameras and  
          associated support equipment and staffing.

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  5/27/14)

          California Fish and Game Wardens' Association
          California Fish and Game Wardens' Supervisors and Managers  
          Association

           OPPOSITION  :    (Verified  5/27/14)

          American Civil Liberties Union of California

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author: 

               Although other law enforcement agencies have  
               increasingly installed dashboard mounted dashboard  
               cameras in their patrol vehicles, it is unclear  
               whether California law authorizes their use by  
               Wildlife Officers employed by the Department.

               Recording communications between Wildlife Officers,  
               suspects, and witnesses creates an unbiased record of  
               these contacts that leads to more accurate and  
               complete information being included in investigative  
               reports and made available to attorneys in civil and  
               criminal proceedings.  

               Recording law enforcement contacts is also an important  
               tool in preventing misconduct on the part of officers,  
               training officers in proper safety and constituent contact  
               procedures, and defending Wildlife Officers and agencies  
               from frivolous lawsuits.

           ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION  :   American Civil Liberties Union  

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          states, that this bill falls short of protecting Californians in  
          that it is silent on when peace officers may turn the cameras on  
          and off.  One presumes then that the decision on powering the  
          camera is left to the individual peace officer.  This place a  
          great deal of control in the peace officers' hands and leave  
          Californian's rights vulnerable to creative editing of video.  

          This is not hypothetical.  In Seattle in 2010, two men filed a  
          claim of excessive force and wrongful arrest.  Part of the  
          arrest was captured by a dashboard camera; however, critical  
          moments of the arrest were mysteriously missing from the video.   
          In Oakland in 2011 an officer powered off his colleague's  
          body-mounted camera during an encounter with protestors.  SB  
          1454 needs amending to ensure that patrol vehicle mounted video  
          and audio systems are being used at all times during all  
          encounters with the public and the peace officers cannot engage  
          in creative editing. 

          This bill falls short in other ways as well.  This bill is  
          silent on Californians' access to video of incidents involving  
          themselves and delineates no requirements on data retention.


          JG:d  5/27/14   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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