BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1168|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1168
Author: Salas (D)
Amended: 6/16/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/23/15
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Peace officers: basic training requirements
SOURCE: California State Sheriffs' Association
DIGEST: This bill exempts a custodial peace officer, who has
completed the regular basic course and has maintained his or her
perishable skills training, from requalification requirements if
he or she has been continuously employed as a custodial peace
officer for a period not exceeding five years by the agency
appointing that officer to a non-custodial position, as
specified.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)States, in Penal Code Section 830.1(a), that any sheriff,
AB 1168
Page 2
undersheriff, or deputy sheriff, employed in that capacity, of
a county, any chief of police of a city or chief, director, or
chief executive officer of a consolidated municipal public
safety agency that performs police functions, any police
officer, employed in that capacity and appointed by the chief
of police or chief, director, or chief executive of a public
safety agency, of a city, any chief of police, or police
officer of a district, including police officers of the San
Diego Unified Port District Harbor Police, authorized by
statute to maintain a police department, any marshal or deputy
marshal of a superior court or county, any port warden or port
police officer of the Harbor Department of the City of Los
Angeles, or any inspector or investigator employed in that
capacity in the office of a district attorney, is a peace
officer. The authority of these peace officers extends to any
place in the state, as follows:
a) As to any public offense committed or which there is
probable cause to believe has been committed within the
political subdivision that employs the peace officer or in
which the peace officer serves.
b) Where the peace officer has the prior consent of the
chief of police or chief, director, or chief executive
officer of a consolidated municipal public safety agency,
or person authorized by him or her to give consent, if the
place is within a city, or of the sheriff, or person
authorized by him or her to give consent, if the place is
within a county.
c) As to any public offense committed or which there is
probable cause to believe has been committed in the peace
officer's presence, and with respect to which there is
immediate danger to person or property, or of the escape of
the perpetrator of the offense.
2)States that any deputy sheriff of the County of Los Angeles,
and any deputy sheriff of the Counties of Butte, Calaveras,
Colusa, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake,
Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Plumas, Riverside, San Benito,
AB 1168
Page 3
San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara,
Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama,
Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Yuba 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).)
3)Requires every peace officer, as specified, to satisfactorily
complete a Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training
(POST) prescribed introductory training course and that
satisfactory completion of the course is to be demonstrated by
passage of an appropriate POST developed or approved
examination. (Penal Code § 832.)
4)Requires limited function peace officers, including an officer
that performs only a custodial function, to satisfactorily
meet the training requirements of the Penal Code 832 Arrest
and Firearms Course. (POST Administrative Manual §§ B-1001,
B-1005.)
5)Requires Penal Code 832 training to be presented as two
components and individuals may elect to complete Arrest,
Firearms, or both. The total minimum hourly requirement for
each Penal Code 832 Arrest and Firearms component is 64 hours
and includes the following: 40 hours for the arrest component
and 24 hours for the firearms component. (POST Administrative
Manual § D-1-7.)
6)Requires, with limited exceptions, any sheriff, undersheriff,
or deputy sheriff of a county, any police officer of a city,
and any police officer of a district authorized by statute to
AB 1168
Page 4
maintain a police department, to successfully complete a
course of training prescribed by the POST before exercising
the powers of a peace officer, except while participating as a
trainee in a supervised field training program approved by
POST. (Penal Code § 832.3.)
7)States that requalification is required for any individual who
seeks appointment or reappointment to a position for which the
Regular Basic Course or the Specialized Investigators' Basic
Course is required when the individual has not previously
served in a California peace officer position with qualifying
service and has: (a) successfully completed a POST-certified
Regular Basic Course or Specialized Investigators' Basic
Course; and, (b) has a three-year-or-longer break from the
last date of successful completion of the Regular Basic Course
or Specialized Investigators' Basic Course, or from the date
the basic course waiver was granted, whichever is most recent.
(11 C.C.R. 1008 (2015).)
8)States, in Section 1008 of Title 11 of the California Code of
Regulations, that when requalification is required it must be
achieved before an individual may exercise peace officer
powers. Upon successful requalification, the individual is
eligible, for up to three years, to be appointed or
reappointed as a California peace officer. An officer can
requalify by:
a) Repeating and successfully completing the appropriate
basic course;
b) Successfully completing a POST-certified Requalification
Course; or,
c) Successfully completing a POST-approved alternative
job-related requalification procedure conducted by a
presenter of a POST-certified Regular Basic Course. The
individual (a) must have previously satisfied the Regular
Basic Course training requirement; (b) is for the first
time obtaining law enforcement employment after a
AB 1168
Page 5
three-year-or-longer break since successful completion of
the Regular Basic Course; and (c) the individual's
department has obtained prior written approval from POST
for the use of an alternative procedure and verifies that
the individual is currently proficient and meets or exceeds
minimum performance standards established by POST.
This bill exempts, until January 1, 2019, a custodial peace
officer, who has completed the regular basic course and has
maintained his or her perishable skills training, from
requalification requirements if he or she has been continuously
employed as a custodial peace officer for a period not exceeding
five years by the agency making the appointment.
Comments
In California there are a variety of peace officer
classifications, including a "regular officer" and a "limited
function peace officer."
A "regular officer" is a sheriff, undersheriff, or deputy
sheriff of a county, a police officer of a city, a police
officer of a district authorized by statute to maintain a police
department, a police officer of a specified department or
district, or a peace officer member of the California Highway
Patrol. (11 CCR 1001 (2015).) As stated above, these
officers, otherwise known as 830.1(a) officers, are required to
complete regular basic training. The standard format of the
regular basic course is delivered in a one-part instructional
sequence with a minimum requirement of 664 hours.
(https://post.ca.gov/regular-basic-course.aspx.) These officers
are, additionally, required to satisfactorily complete 24 or
more hours of POST-qualifying training every two-years,
including a minimum of 12 hours of perishable skills training.
Of the total 12 hours required, a minimum of four hours of each
of the three following topical areas must be completed: (1)
arrest and control; (2) driver training/awareness or driving
simulator; and, (3) tactical firearms or force options
simulator. (11 C.C.R. 1005 (2015).) If an officer in this
classification has a break in service for more than three years,
he or she would generally have to requalify prior to being
appointed to an 830.1(a) position. Similarly, if a person took
the regular basic training course and was not able to find
AB 1168
Page 6
employment within three years, he or she would have to requalify
in order to be appointed to a position.
In contrast, a "limited function peace officer" is a deputy
sheriff, regularly employed and paid as such, of a county, a
police officer of a city, a police officer of a district
authorized by statute to maintain a police department, to be a
peace officer as described in Penal Code Section 830.1(c), and
is employed to perform duties other than the prevention and
detection of crime and the general enforcement of the criminal
laws of the state. (Id.) These officers must take the
introductory training course prescribed in Penal Code Section
832. According to POST, this course is the "entry-level
training requirement for many California peace officers."
(http://post.ca.gov/ regular-basic-course.aspx.) Penal Code
Section 832 training is 40 to 64 hours, two of which are
dedicated to the final exam. (https://post.ca.gov/
pc-832-arrest-and-firearms-training-specifications.aspx.) Once
the officer completes the course and satisfactorily passes the
examination, the officer must become a peace officer within
three years, and may not have a break in service of three years
of longer. If the officer does not become employed as a peace
officer, or has the proscribed break in service, he or she must
repeat the training and retake the examination. Like 803.1(a)
officers, these officers are required to satisfactorily complete
24 or more hours of POST-qualifying training during every
two-years.
According to the author:
Many peace officers begin their public safety service
with custodial or detention assignments, performing
duties like working in courtrooms, transporting inmates,
conducting criminal investigations, testifying in court,
attending training courses, and preparing reports. While
considered peace officers under California law, custodial
and detention deputy positions have limited peace officer
powers.
Custodial and detention deputies often aim to transfer to
patrol assignments with full peace officer powers. Even
though they are employed, if these deputies do not find
patrol positions within 3 years they must repeat their
AB 1168
Page 7
training and examination. Openings for patrol positions
are rare, particularly in rural regions of the state,
often making the three-year requalification an impediment
to career advancement.
Assembly Bill 1168 would, until January 2019, extend the
validity of the basic training courses and examinations
for a custodial or detention deputy who has been
continuously employed as a peace officer for five years.
This bill is intended to deal with a group of officers who have
had the requisite training to become "regular officers," but
have been serving in a limited function, custodial positions for
more than three years, by exempting them from requalification
requirements if they have been continuously employed as a
custodial peace officer for a period not exceeding five years by
the agency making the appointment.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/24/15)
California State Sheriffs' Association (source)
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/24/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the California State
Sheriffs' Association:
Existing law allows for two different classifications
of peace officers to work in county jails: 830.1(a)
officers, which are peace officers at all times and
830.1(c) deputies, which are correctional officers
that have limited peace officer powers. In order for a
person to be employed as an 830.1(a) officer, he or
she must complete the full basic academy (664 hours of
training) while an 830.1(c) officer must only complete
AB 1168
Page 8
a 64 hour course.
In rare instances, a person that has completed the
full basic academy course gets hired by a county as an
830.1(c) deputy in the county jail. In this situation,
the person has 3 years from the time the person
graduates from the academy to obtain an 830.1(a)
position before his or her POST
certificate/eligibility expires. While many counties
work to ensure that jail deputies that wish to
transfer to patrol do so in less than 3 years, in some
counties (such as Kings and Butte), patrol positions
may not be available prior to the expiration of a
person's eligibility. In those situations, the deputy
must then complete a refresher course, which costs
money for the deputy and requires the county to
backfill the person's time while the person is taking
the class. (Note: all officers, regardless of
classification, must continue to maintain their
perishable skills through POST training.)
However, for those deputies that are hired in counties
as 830.1(a) officers in the jails, that person's
eligibility to transfer to a patrol position never
expires even though that officer is doing the same
exact work as an 830.1(c) deputy in another county.
We believe that creates an inequity for those counties
that have chosen to utilize 830.1(c) deputies in the
jails. It also incentivizes deputies that wish to
move to patrol to leave the hiring agency prior to the
expiration of their POST certificate.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau,
Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd,
Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove,
Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
AB 1168
Page 9
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Chávez, Gomez
Prepared by:Jessica Devencenzi / PUB. S. /
6/24/15 17:20:48
**** END ****