BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2524 Page 1 Date of Hearing: March 29, 2016 Consultant: Matt Dean ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair AB 2524 (Irwin) - As Amended March 14, 2016 SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to issue its mandatory criminal justice statistics reports quarterly through the OpenJustice Web Portal. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires DOJ to post, on the OpenJustice Web Portal, quarterly criminal justice statistics relating to officer involved incidents with the demographics of the individuals involved and a description of the incident; case clearance rates; juvenile delinquency; the disposition of civilian complaints; the demographics of victims and individuals charged in homicides; the incidents and demographics targeted by hate crimes; the incidents and demographics of "stop and frisk" detentions; the incidents and demographics of potential profiling incidents; administrative actions taken by law enforcement, prosecutorial, judicial, penal, and correctional agencies; and other data leading to the apprehension, prosecution, and treatment of the criminals and delinquents. 2)Eliminates the use of paper cards or forms by law enforcement agencies to submit required statistical data to DOJ. 3)Eliminates DOJ's requirement to annually present a report on criminal justice statistics to the Governor and the AB 2524 Page 2 Legislature. 4)Requires DOJ to add prosecutorial administrative actions to its criminal justice statistics collection and summaries. EXISTING LAW: 1)Requires DOJ to annually interpret and present crime statistics, required to be reported by law enforcement and other agencies and information, to the Governor. (Pen. Code, §§ 13010, subd. (g), 13020.) 2)Requires DOJ to interpret and present statistics and information to the Legislature and to those in charge or concerned with of the apprehension, prosecution, and treatment of the criminals and delinquents. (Pen. Code, § 13012(b).) 3)Allows the Attorney General to issue special reports on crime statistics. (Pen. Code, § 13010, subd. (g).) 4)Requires the Racial and Identity Profiling Board (RIPA) to annually analyze and report to the Attorney General statistics collected from law enforcement agencies regarding citizen complaints. (Pen. Code, § 13012, subds.(a) and (c).) 5)Requires the Attorney General to make available a sufficient number of copies of both the required annual report on crime statistics and any special reports. (Pen. Code, § 13010, subd. (g).) 6)Requires DOJ to prepare and distribute to any person or agency required to submit crime statistics the cards, forms, or electronic means used in reporting data to the department. The cards, forms, or electronic means may, in addition to other items, include items of information needed by federal bureaus or departments engaged in the development of national and uniform criminal statistics. (Pen. Code, § 13010, subd. (b).) 7)Requires DOJ to periodically review the requirements of units of government using criminal justice statistics, and to make recommendations for changes it deems necessary in the design of criminal justice statistics systems, including new AB 2524 Page 3 techniques of collection and processing made possible by automation. (Pen. Code, § 13010, subd. (h).) 8)Requires DOJ, beginning January 1, 2017, to issue an annual summary of incidents reported by law enforcement including: a) The shooting of a civilian by a peace officer; b) The shooting of a peace officer by a civilian; c) The use of force by a peace officer against a civilian that results in serious bodily injury or death; and d) The use of force by a civilian against a peace officer that results in serious bodily injury or death; (Gov. Code, § 12525.2, subds. (a) and (c).) 9)Requires DOJ's annual summary of shootings of and by peace officers, and of use of force by or against peace officers, to include the number and demographics of those involved, if the civilian was armed, the type of force used, and a description of the incident, as provided. (Gov. Code, § 12525.2, subds. (a), (b) and (c).) 10)Requires DOJ to collect data pertaining to the juvenile justice system for criminal history and statistical purposes, including all of the following: a) The amount and the types of offenses known to the public authorities; b) The personal and social characteristics of criminals and delinquents; c) The administrative actions taken by law enforcement, judicial, penal, and correctional agencies or institutions, including those in the juvenile justice system, in dealing with criminals or delinquents; d) The administrative actions taken by law enforcement, prosecutorial, judicial, penal, and correctional agencies including those in the juvenile justice system, in dealing AB 2524 Page 4 with minors who are the subject of a petition or hearing in the juvenile court to transfer their case to the jurisdiction of an adult criminal court or whose cases are directly filed or otherwise initiated in an adult criminal court; and e) The total number of each of the following, disaggregated by individual law enforcement agency, including whether the disposition of the complaints was sustained, not sustained, exonerated or unfounded, as defined: i) Citizen complaints received by law enforcement agencies; ii) Citizen complaints alleging criminal conduct of either a felony or misdemeanor; and iii) Citizen complaints alleging racial or identity profiling, as defined. These statistics shall be disaggregated by the specific type of racial or identity profiling alleged, such as based on a consideration of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability. (Pen. Code, §§ 832.5, 13012(a), 13519.4.) 11)Requires the annual report published by DOJ to include information concerning arrests for identity theft. (Pen. Code, §§ 530.5, 13010, 13012.6.) 12)Requires DOJ to maintain a data set, updated annually, that contains the number of crimes reported, number of clearances and clearance rates in California as reported by individual law enforcement agencies for required-to-be-reported crimes. The data set shall be made available through a prominently displayed hypertext link on the Department's Internet Web site or through the Department's OpenJustice data portal. (Pen. Code, §§ 13012, 13013.) 13)Requires DOJ to perform the following duties concerning the investigation and prosecution of homicide cases: AB 2524 Page 5 a) Collect information on all persons who are the victims of, and all persons who are charged with, homicide; b) Adopt and distribute as a written form or by electronic means to all state and governmental entities that are responsible for the investigation and prosecution of homicide cases forms that will include information to be provided to the department; and c) Compile, collate, index, and maintain an electronic file of the information regarding victims of and those charged with homicide into a report available to the public. (Pen. Code, §13014.) 14)Requires local law enforcement agencies to report to DOJ, in a manner prescribed by the Attorney General, any information that may be required relative to hate crimes so that the Department can report, on or before July 1 of each year, the Department's analysis to the Legislature. (Pen. Code, §§ 422.55, 13023.) FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown COMMENTS: 1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "AB 2524 will modernize California's collection and publication of criminal justice data. The OpenJustice Data Act builds upon Attorney General Kamala Harris's open data initiative to improve and empower the public's access to local and statewide crime statistics. "AB 2524 will reinvent Crime in California and other annual reports published by the California DOJ as digital data sets within the Attorney General's OpenJustice Web portal. These reports provide statistical summaries including numbers of arrests, complaints against peace officers, hate crime offenses, and law enforcement officers killed or assaulted; however, the static nature of these print publications means that data often lacks context. The OpenJustice Web portal will alchemize this information with interactive, accessible visualization tools, while making raw data available for AB 2524 Page 6 public interest researchers. "Additionally, AB 2524 will bring the state's data collection into the 21st century by requiring local law enforcement agencies to submit all currently required statistical reports digitally. Despite the fact that electronic reporting provides for more accurate and efficient data submission, as many as 60% of local agencies still submit required data to the California DOJ on paper. The OpenJustice Data Act will direct all agencies to transition into digital reporting, which will allow for more frequent updates to statistics contained within the Web portal. "DOJ first launched the OpenJustice initiative in 2015 as a mechanism for improving community trust in law enforcement, enhancing government accountability, and informing public policy. In early 2016 the Attorney General announced the release of OpenJustice 1.1, which enriched the Web portal's initial data sets with city, county, and state level context including population and demographic information, unemployment rates, poverty rates, and educational attainment levels. In addition to providing greater transparency, this information enables policymakers to craft informed, data-driven public policy." 2)Summary: Various provisions of the Government and Penal Codes require DOJ to collect, analyze, and report on criminal justice statistics. Each individual law enforcement agency must report criminal justice statistics to DOJ so DOJ can both aggregate the data to present a statewide overview and to present data on each individual law enforcement agency. Currently, the agency's statistics may be submitted by paper forms and cards. The statistics which agencies are required to report include: officer involved incidents with the demographics of the individuals involved and a description of the incident, case clearance rates, juvenile delinquency, the disposition of civilian complaints, the demographics of victims and individuals charged in homicides, the incidents and demographics targeted by hate crimes, the incidents and demographics of "stop and frisk" detentions, the incidents and demographics of potential profiling incidents, and other data AB 2524 Page 7 leading to the apprehension, prosecution, and treatment of the criminals and delinquents. Separate provisions require DOJ to prepare a summary of these criminal justice statistics every year in reports to the Governor and the Legislature, and otherwise make the data and reports available to the public. This bill requires law enforcement agencies to submit their statistics by electronic means only, and require DOJ to post the raw statistics and their summaries quarterly -rather than annually- on the OpenJustice Web Portal, which is easily accessible by the Governor, the Legislature and the public. 3)Argument in Support: According to Attorney General Kamala Harris, "California has a long history of supporting criminal justice data. When DOJ was first created in 1944 and given control over the state's criminal identification services, Attorney General Robert Kenny created a Bureau of Criminal Statistics to leverage this information to provide statistical insight into public safety issues. In 1955, legislation was enacted requiring the bureau to provide 'a printed annual report containing the criminal statistics of the preceding calendar year,' as well as additional reports on 'special aspects of criminal statistics.' This publication has become known as Crime in California, and has served as an important resource for researchers and lawmakers. "The state has changed dramatically over the past six decades. The advent of new analytic technologies has only further illuminated the value of using reliable data to guide public policy. Meanwhile, the internet has empowered Californians with greater access to information than at any other point in history, enabling everyday residents to learn about the world they live in. However, statutes governing the state's publication of crime data remain substantially the same. Data pertaining to the work of public safety in communities remains largely inaccessible to most residents, contained in pages of numerical tables published in paper reports and reproduced through static downloadable files. AB 2524 Page 8 "In 2015, Attorney General Harris announced the launch of a new initiative called OpenJustice, a first-of-its-kind open data Web portal designed to make previously obscured information available to the public through an interactive, easy-to-use web interface. This tool consists of two components: a Dashboard that spotlights key criminal justice indicators with user-friendly visualization tools, and an Open Data Portal that publishes complete raw datasets. "The core mission of OpenJustice was to increase public safety transparency by making information both available and digestible to the general public. The initial datasets released through OpenJustice included Law Enforcement Officers Killed or Assaulted in the Line of Duty; Deaths in Custody; and Arrests and Bookings. Earlier this year, OpenJustice 1.1 was launched to add more local context to this data, such as population and demographic information. The OpenJustice Data Act would revolutionize the public's access to information about the criminal justice system by reinventing the Attorney General's traditional printed reports as datasets within the OpenJustice Data portal. The bill will enable Californians to review the statistical information most important to them in context, using dynamic, interactive tools, rather than rely on preselected, prepackaged summaries. AB 2524 will truly democratize public safety data, significantly strengthening trust in law enforcement. "AB 2524 will also modernize the way the state collects this information from locals. Despite the continuing development of digital technologies, as many as 60% of local agencies still report their criminal justice statistics to DOJ on paper; this bill will direct those agencies to submit electronically. By transitioning to an entirely digital reporting process, statewide data collection will be more efficient, accurate, and considerate of the environment." 4)Argument in Opposition: According to the California State Sheriff's Association, "While we appreciate your desire to increase efficiency and the use of technology, we are concerned that this bill represents a significant unfunded mandate on law enforcement agencies. It has been reported that at least 60% of agencies do no report electronically and AB 2524 Page 9 enacting this bill will create massive cost pressures to acquire technology, secure storage space, and train staff on the new requirements imposed by this bill. "Additionally, AB 2524 contemplates quarterly reporting where many statistics are currently reported annually. Not only will this increase workload, but it must be considered in the context of all of the reporting that is currently mandated, including new requirements on reporting of racial profiling and use of force data. 5)Related Legislation: a) SB 1075 (Runner) would require DOJ's report to the Governor to include statistics on child molestation, as defined, in the same format and within the same tables that report on the number, rate per 100,000 population, and percentage change in other violent crimes, including rape. SB 1075 is pending in the Senate Committee on Public Safety. b) SB 1031 (Hancock) would require the Board of State and Community Corrections, on or before July 1, 2019, to establish a Juvenile Justice Information System to develop and maintain statewide statistical information, as specified. SB 1031 would additionally, on January 1, 2020, remove the requirement that DOJ collect information regarding the juvenile justice system. SB 1031 is pending in the Senate Committee on Public Safety. c) AB 1654 (Santiago) would require the State Auditor to include in this audit an evaluation of the institutions' compliance with state law governing crime reporting and the development and implementation of student safety policies and procedures, and require DOJ, commencing July 1, 2017, to provide guidance to and develop model protocols for AB 2524 Page 10 California's public and private institutions of higher education and systemwide offices of public institutions of higher education regarding student safety state laws. AB 1654 is pending in the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. 6)Prior Legislation: a) AB 953 (Weber), Chapter 466, Statutes of 2015, enacted the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015, which revised the definition of racial profiling to instead refer to racial or identity profiling. Specified law enforcement agencies are required to report on all stops, as defined. b) AB 71 (Rodriguez), Chapter 462, Statutes of 2015, requires each law enforcement agency to annually furnish to DOJ a report of specified incidents when a peace officer is involved in the use of force, as defined. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support Attorney General Kamala Harris Opposition California State Sheriffs' Association Analysis Prepared by: Matt Dean / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 AB 2524 Page 11