BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2626
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 19, 2016
Consultant: Matt Dean
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
AB
2626 (Jones-Sawyer) - As Introduced February 19, 2016
As Proposed to be Amended in Committee
SUMMARY: Requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and
Training (POST) to, commencing June 2017, develop and
disseminate training on procedural justice and implicit bias, as
defined; and to incorporate procedural justice and implicit bias
training into POST's basic training by no later than June 1,
2018. Specifically, this bill:
1)Finds and declares all of the following:
a) The relationship between law enforcement and the
communities they are sworn to protect must be grounded in
trust in order to ensure safety and protection for all;
b) Despite the ongoing challenges to fostering strong
relationships of trust between law enforcement and
communities, the practice of principled policing,
specifically procedural justice and implicit bias, is one
strategy shown to improve police-community relationships;
c) It is in the interest of California's communities and
the thousands of men and women who are sworn to serve and
protect the public that the State of California support
evidence-based strategies to improve the relationship of
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trust between law enforcement and communities; and
d) Understanding and implementing the practice of
principled policing, specifically procedural justice and
implicit bias, offers an opportunity for law enforcement
and communities to collaboratively build trust and improve
safety for all.
2)Requires POST to develop and disseminate training on
principled policing, specifically procedural justice and
implicit bias, for all peace officers as provided.
3)Defines "procedural justice" as "an approach to policing based
on giving people the opportunity to tell their side of the
story, remaining neutral in decision-making and behavior,
treating people with respect, and explaining actions in a way
that communicates caring for people's concerns so as to
demonstrate trustworthiness."
4)Defines "implicit bias" as "thoughts and feelings about social
groups that can influence people's perceptions, decisions, and
actions without awareness."
5)Requires the POST course or courses of instruction on
principled policing to stress procedural justice as a strategy
for improving the relationship of trust between law
enforcement and communities, and how implicit bias can be a
barrier to procedural justice.
6)Requires the POST course on principled policing to include:
a) Adequate instruction on procedural justice and implicit
bias in order to foster mutual respect and cooperation
between law enforcement and communities;
b) An evidence-based curriculum developed in consultation
with appropriate groups and individuals who have expertise
in procedural justice or implicit bias, including, but not
limited to:
i) law enforcement agencies that have demonstrated
experience in procedural justice or implicit bias
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training;
ii) university professors who specialize in addressing
and reducing racial and identity bias towards individuals
and groups; and
iii) community organizations or members who specialize in
civil or human rights and criminal justice; and
c) Consideration of each of, including but not limited to,
the following subjects:
i) Procedural justice as a strategy for improving the
relationship of trust between law enforcement agencies
and the communities they are sworn to serve;
ii) Implicit bias as a barrier to procedural justice;
iii) Historical and generational effects of policing; and
iv) The interactive nature of policing goals, procedural
justice, and implicit bias.
7)Requires POST to certify and make training available to train
peace officers to be able to effectively teach the course of
training on principled policing. The course shall be
structured so that experts on procedural justice and implicit
bias train law enforcement agencies to be able to effectively
teach the concepts, principles and research behind procedural
justice and implicit bias to colleagues within their
departments.
8)Encourages law enforcement agencies to send at least one
police executive or manager, one training officer and one
community member to the POST course on principled policing.
9)States that, upon completion of the training course, peace
officers from participating law enforcement agencies shall be
qualified by POST to conduct the course on principled policing
for colleagues in their respective agencies.
10) Requires POST to offer the course on principled
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policing and the qualifying training on a quarterly basis in
regional training centers across the state commencing in June
2017.
11) Requires POST, no later than June 1, 2018, to:
a) Evaluate its current course of basic training;
b) Promulgate a plan to incorporate the concepts of
principled policing into its course of basic training; and
c) Require each peace officer, as provided, to complete a
refresher course no less frequently than every five years.
EXISTING
LAW:1)
1)Requires all peace officers to complete an introductory course
of training prescribed by POST, demonstrated by passage of an
appropriate examination developed by POST. (Pen. Code, § 832,
subd. (a).)
2)Establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Training and
Standards. (Pen. Code, § 13500.)
3)Empowers POST to develop and implement programs to increase
the effectiveness of law enforcement. (Pen. Code, §13503.)
4)Authorizes POST, for the purpose of raising the level of
competence of local law enforcement officers, to adopt rules
establishing minimum standards related to physical, mental and
moral fitness and training that shall govern the recruitment
of any peace officers in California. (Pen. Code, § 13510,
subd. (a).)
5)Requires POST to conduct research concerning job-related
educational standards and job-related selection standards to
include vision, hearing, physical ability, and emotional
stability and adopt standards supported by this research.
(Pen. Code, § 13510, subd. (b).)
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6)Requires POST to establish a certification program for peace
officers, which shall be considered professional certificates.
(Pen. Code, § 13510.1, subd. (a).)
7)Requires that the course of basic training for law enforcement
officers include adequate instruction on racial and cultural
diversity in order to foster mutual respect and cooperation
between law enforcement and members of all racial and cultural
groups. (Pen. Code, § 13519.4, subd. (b).)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "Increasing
trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve
is a crucial component to maintaining public safety. Studies
show that training peace officers on procedural justice and
implicit bias has a direct and measurably positive effect on
police-community relations.
"Late in 2015, the Department of Justice hosted two trainings
on Principled Policing- now POST certified - attended by more
than 50 police chiefs and sheriffs from throughout the state.
"The Principled Policing curriculum-a day-long course taught
by officers selected for leadership and street
credibility-comprises six hour-long modules, blending material
from daily police practice, research and anecdotes drawn from
instructors' experience. These modules are organized to
address officer skepticism and build buy-in early in the
training day. The course is evolving, as implicit bias and
function-specific material are incorporated into the
curriculum.
"The Stanford research team developed a pre- and post-training
participant evaluation survey that showed the course was very
well-received. In fact, the survey indicated that law
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enforcement officials who participated in the training
reported increased sympathy toward community concerns and
lauded the course for its usefulness. Participant responses
also suggest that engaging in this course material increased
the police leaders' confidence in change and, specifically, in
their commitment to change in partnership with the community.
"Ultimately, it is believed that such a course that is
facilitated across the state could play a role in decreasing
police-community tensions and strengthening police-community
trust."
2)Implicit Bias: Implicit bias is an unconscious psychological
bias against individuals in certain racial, gender or other
legally protected groups. If an individual has an implicit
bias against any group, this does not mean that they
necessarily have an explicit prejudice against that group. In
fact, there is no correlation between implicit bias and
explicit prejudice. In fact, research has shown that even
members of minority groups often have an implicit bias against
the minority group of which they are a member. This
demonstrates the pervasiveness of implicit bias. But
regardless of the individuals who have an implicit or why,
implicit bias has been shown to create significant negative
impacts for members of protected minority groups in housing,
employment and other areas. (Bagnestos, Implicit Bias,
"Science," and Antidiscrimination Law (2007) 1 Harv. L. &
Pol'y Rev. 477.)
There are scientifically proven methods to combat implicit bias.
A recent Science journal article discussed findings that
"deep canvassing" by in-group individuals to out-group
individuals showed the out-group individuals changing their
attitudes toward the in-group and maintaining their new
attitude three months later. (Broockman & Kalla, Durably
reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door
canvassing (Apr. 8, 2016) Science, at pp. 220-224.) This
study comes after, in 2014, a study published by different
authors with similar findings was retracted due to manipulated
data sets. However, the recent study was conducted by the
individuals who uncovered the manipulation. Their study found
even stronger effects than the prior study, demonstrating its
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reliability.
3)Potential Impacts of Implicit Bias on Policing: Numerous
studies have shown that minority groups are treated
differently within society as a whole, and in the criminal
justice system in particular. (See Bobo & Fox, Race, Racism,
and Discrimination: Bridging Problems, Methods, and Theory in
Social Psychological Research (Dec. 2003) Social Science
Quarterly, at pp. 319-332; and Rice & White, Race, Ethnicity
and Policing: New and Essential Readings (2010).) For
example, a recent report in California showed that African
Americans were disproportionally stopped and arrested by law
enforcement despite no documented difference in driving
behavior. (White, Report: California traffic stops, arrests
hit minorities harder, Sacramento Bee (April 10, 2016)
<
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article71054277.html >.)
The strong scientific evidence of implicit bias and its
potential to negatively impact protected minority groups shows
how training peace officers in a way that reduces or
eliminates any unconscious implicit bias those officers may
have could assist law enforcement and communities to
collaboratively build trust and improve safety for everyone
involved.
4)Current POST Training: POST was created by the legislature in
1959 to set minimum selection and training standards for
California law enforcement. According to the POST Web site,
the Regular Basic Course Training includes 42 separate topics,
ranging from juvenile law and procedure to search and seizure.
[POST, Regular Basic Course Training Specifications;
[< http://post.ca.gov/regular-basic-course-training-specificatio
ns.aspx >.] These topics are taught during a minimum of 664
hours of training. [POST, Regular Basic Course, Course
Formats, available at:
< http://post.ca.gov/regular-basic-course.aspx .>]
a) POST currently provides specific training on racial
profiling and cultural diversity in connection with the
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mandate of Penal Code section 13519.4. According to POST
that curriculum consists of the following:
i) Racial Profiling Training
ii) Part I - Initial* - 5 Hours
(1) Why Are We Here?
(2) Racial Profiling Defined
(3) Legal Considerations
(4) History of Civil Rights
(5) Impact of Racial Profiling
(6) Community Considerations
(7) Ethical Considerations
iii) Part II - Refresher** - 2 Hours
(1) Review of Applicable Initial Training
(2) Update on Changes in Law and Practices
iv) *Included in Basic Course after January 1, 2004.
v) **To be completed every five years after initial
training
b) POST also provided a list of classes within their
curriculum related to the constitutional legality of
enforcement actions and impartial policing:
i) Leadership, Professionalism and Ethics
ii) Policing the Community (Fair and impartial
enforcement)
iii) Introduction to Criminal Law
iv) Laws of Arrest
v) Search and Seizure
vi) Gang Awareness
5)Argument in Support: According to the California Attorney
General Kamala Harris "Studies show that training peace
officers on procedural justice and implicit bias has a direct
and positive effect on police-community relations. In
recognition of this fact, Attorney General Harris partnered
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with Stanford SPARQ (Social Psychology Answers to Real-world
Questions), the Empower Initiative, the Oakland and Stockton
Police Departments, and the community organization California
Partnership for Safer Communities to create the first of its
kind Principled Policing course for law enforcement officials
throughout California. Over 50 law enforcement executives
from 28 departments participated in one-day trainings. The
training was highly successful, with participants praising the
course for the role it could play in decreasing
police-community tensions and increasing police-community
trust.
"AB 2626 would require POST to develop and offer principled
policing training, specifically procedural justice and
implicit bias, for peace officers and develop and offer a
course to train peace officers to teach the principled
policing course to other officers within their departments.
By making this cutting-edge course more widely available. AB
2626 will make a valuable contribution toward cultivating
relationships of trust and respect between law enforcement and
the communities they serve."
6)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 1118 (Bonta), of the 2015-16 Legislative Session,
would have established the Procedural Justice Task Force,
which would be administered by POST. The task force would
provide for grant funding, to be awarded to local law
enforcement departments for the purpose of implementing and
enhancing procedural justice training and would have
required the task force to manage these programs, monitor
their implementation, and serve in an advisory capacity to
sites leading implementation. AB 1118 failed passage in the
Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
b) AB 953 (Weber), Chapter 466, Statutes of 2015, requires,
beginning July 1, 2016, the Attorney General to establish
the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (RIPA) to
eliminate racial and identity profiling and improve
diversity and racial and identity sensitivity in law
enforcement.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Attorney General Kamala Harris (Sponsor)
American Civil Liberties Union
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Partnership for Safe Communities
California Police Chiefs Association
California Public Defenders Association
Empower Initiative
Indio Police Department
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Oakland Police Department
Richmond Police Department
Stockton Police Department
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared
by: Matt Dean / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744