BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 242 Hearing Date: April 21, 2015
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|Author: |Monning |
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|Version: |April 7, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant:|JRD |
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Subject: School Security: Surplus Military Equipment.
HISTORY
Source: Author
Prior Legislation:None known
Support: California State Conference of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People;
California Parents and Teachers Association
Opposition:None known
PURPOSE
The purpose of the bill is to require a school district's police
department to obtain approval from its governing board prior to
receiving federal surplus military equipment.
Under existing law the governing board of a school district may
establish a school police department under the supervision of a
school chief of police and may employ peace officers, as
specified, to ensure the safety of school district personnel and
pupils, and the security of the real and personal property of
the school district. (Education Code § 38000(b).)
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Under existing law the governing board of a school district that
establishes a police department must set minimum qualifications
of employment for the school chief of police, including, but not
limited to, prior employment as a peace officer or completion of
a peace officer training course approved by the Commission on
Peace Officer Standards and Training. (Education Code §
38000(c).)
Under existing law persons employed and compensated as members
of a police department of a school district, when appointed and
duly sworn, are peace officers, for the purposes of carrying out
their duties of employment pursuant to Section 830.32 of the
Penal Code. (Education Code §38001.)
Under existing law following persons are peace officers whose
authority extends to any place in the state for the purpose of
performing their primary duty, or when making an arrest as to
any public offense with respect to which there is immediate
danger to person or property, or of the escape of the
perpetrator of that offense, as specified. These peace officers
may carry firearms only if authorized and under terms and
conditions specified by their employing agency. These peace
officers include:
Members of a California Community College police
department, as specified.
Persons employed as members of a police department of a
school district, as specified.
Any peace officer employed by a K-12 public school
district or California Community College district, as
specified.
(Penal Code § 830.32.)
This bill prohibits the governing board of a school district
that establishes a school police department from permitting the
school police department to receive federal surplus military
equipment, as specified, unless the governing board does all of
the following:
Votes to approve the acquisition of surplus military
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equipment at a regularly scheduled public board meeting;
Provides parents or guardians and other members of the
public a chance to comment at a regularly scheduled public
board meeting on the proposed acquisition of surplus
military equipment, and clearly and in a manner
recognizable to the general public, identify in the agenda
the topic to be discussed at the meeting;
Identifies safe and secure storage for surplus military
equipment to be received by a school police department;
and,
Ensures that peace officers employed by a school police
department possess adequate training in the safe use and
handling of the surplus military equipment to be received.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
For the past eight years, this Committee has scrutinized
legislation referred to its jurisdiction for any potential
impact on prison overcrowding. Mindful of the United States
Supreme Court ruling and federal court orders relating to the
state's ability to provide a constitutional level of health care
to its inmate population and the related issue of prison
overcrowding, this Committee has applied its "ROCA" policy as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress in reducing prison
overcrowding.
On February 10, 2014, the federal court ordered California to
reduce its in-state adult institution population to 137.5% of
design capacity by February 28, 2016, as follows:
143% of design bed capacity by June 30, 2014;
141.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2015; and,
137.5% of design bed capacity by February 28, 2016.
In February of this year the administration reported that as "of
February 11, 2015, 112,993 inmates were housed in the State's 34
adult institutions, which amounts to 136.6% of design bed
capacity, and 8,828 inmates were housed in out-of-state
facilities. This current population is now below the
court-ordered reduction to 137.5% of design bed capacity."(
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Defendants' February 2015 Status Report In Response To February
10, 2014 Order, 2:90-cv-00520 KJM DAD PC, 3-Judge Court, Coleman
v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (fn. omitted).
While significant gains have been made in reducing the prison
population, the state now must stabilize these advances and
demonstrate to the federal court that California has in place
the "durable solution" to prison overcrowding "consistently
demanded" by the court. (Opinion Re: Order Granting in Part and
Denying in Part Defendants' Request For Extension of December
31, 2013 Deadline, NO. 2:90-cv-0520 LKK DAD (PC), 3-Judge Court,
Coleman v. Brown, Plata v. Brown (2-10-14). The Committee's
consideration of bills that may impact the prison population
therefore will be informed by the following questions:
Whether a proposal erodes a measure which has contributed
to reducing the prison population;
Whether a proposal addresses a major area of public safety
or criminal activity for which there is no other
reasonable, appropriate remedy;
Whether a proposal addresses a crime which is directly
dangerous to the physical safety of others for which there
is no other reasonably appropriate sanction;
Whether a proposal corrects a constitutional problem or
legislative drafting error; and
Whether a proposal proposes penalties which are
proportionate, and cannot be achieved through any other
reasonably appropriate remedy.
COMMENTS
1. Need for Legislation
According to the Author:
Education Code Section 38000 allows for a school
district board to establish a police department to
service a school district and the surrounding
community. The police officers who serve in these
departments are fully trained, POST-certified peace
officers. Some of these school district police
departments have elected to apply for and receive
military surplus and weapons through the US Department
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of Defense's 1033 Program, coordinated through the
Governor's Office of Emergency Services in California.
The 1033 program has provided over $5.1 billion worth
of military weapons and supplies to law enforcement
agencies throughout the county, including over 120
school district police departments. In California,
there have been a number of high-profile instances
where school districts have received these items such
as with San Diego Unified School District, which
received a 14-ton Mine Resistant and Ambush Proof
(MRAP) vehicle, and Los Angeles Unified School
District, which also received an MRAP, sixty-one M-16
automatic rifles, and three 40mm M-79 grenade
launchers. While school boards have statutory
authority over the school police departments they
authorize, the weapons and supplies received by these
school police departments are often sought without the
approval or knowledge of their elected school boards.
This lack of notification is made worse by not
including parents, teachers, and community members in
the discussion of whether these materials should even
be part of the school or community policing strategy.
SB 242 seeks to remedy this lack of transparency and
ensure community involvement and a parental voice in
policing decisions made by school district police
departments. The measure will require that before a
school district police department is permitted to
receive military surplus items through the Federal
1033 Program, the governing school board must:
publicly vote to approve the acquisition of equipment;
provide parents, guardians, and community members a
chance to publicly comment on the proposal at a
regularly scheduled meeting of the board; provide
parents with written notice and a detailed description
of the military equipment's functions and purpose; and
identify safe storage of the equipment.
2. Effect of the Legislation
The National Defense Authorization Act authorizes the Secretary
of Defense to transfer excess property that it determines
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suitable for use in law enforcement activities to federal,
state, and local law enforcement jurisdictions. This is
referred to as the 1033 Program. The Defense Logistics Agency
(DLA) Law Enforcement Support Office in assigned to determine
whether property is suitable for use by these agencies. The DLA
defines law enforcement activities as those performed by
government agencies whose primary function is the enforcement of
applicable federal, state, and local laws and whose compensated
law enforcement officers have powers of arrest and apprehension.
The law enforcement agencies must be authorized and certified
annually to participate.
The Governor's Office of Emergency Services implements the 1033
Program in California and conducts management and oversight of
the program through the California Public Safety Procurement
Program. The Office of Emergency Services also provides support
and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies
participating (or interested in participating) in the program.
Since 1997, the 1033 Program has provided over $5.1 billion of
military equipment to thousands of local law enforcement
agencies throughout the country, including more than 120 school
district police departments that serve K-12 students.
There has been national media attention surrounding the 1033
Program and the transfer of surplus military weaponry to school
police departments.
[S]ix California school district police departments
received equipment from the Department of Defense
Excess Property Program, also known as the 1033
Program. The details:
o Baldwin Park School Police
Department: 3 M16 assault rifles
o Kern High School District
Police: 30 magazine pouches for M4 assault
rifle ammunition
o Los Angeles School Police
Department: 61 M16 assault rifles, 3 M79
grenade launchers, 1 mine-resistant vehicle
o Oakland Unified School Police:
utility truck
o San Diego Unified Schools
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Police: 1 mine-resistant vehicle
The M16s were valued at $499 each, the grenade
launchers at $720, and the mine-resistant vehicles, or
MRAPs, at $733,000.
The Pentagon has been giving surplus military equipment to
state and local law enforcement agencies for more than a
decade. The militarized police response in Ferguson,
Missouri, to protests over the police killing of teenager
Michael Brown has prompted some lawmakers to question the
use of the military equipment by police. A recent poll
found that 51 percent of Americans think it's unnecessary
for police to use military weapons for law enforcement.
"The only thing that I know of is a rescue vehicle,"
Los Angeles School Police Department Sgt. Steve
Mayoral explained to The Huffington Post when asked
about the rifles, grenade launchers and armored
vehicle -- by far the largest haul by a school police
department in the state. Mayoral said school police
intend to use the mine-resistant vehicle for rescue
emergencies. He said he could not confirm the status
of the rifles and grenade launchers.
A Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson who
requested anonymity confirmed school police received
the gear noted in the report. The district, which has
400 sworn officers, has been receiving military
weaponry since 2001, the spokesperson said.
The M16 rifles the district received have been
modified to fire only one shot with each pull of the
trigger, and have only been used in training, the
spokesperson said. An officer must complete 40 hours
of training before using the military rifle, the
spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the grenade launchers are the
type some police departments use for tear gas and have
never been used by the school district, which doesn't
have munitions for them. The armored vehicle was
received over the summer and hasn't been deployed yet.
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The spokesperson said one reason the school district
sought the military gear was to prepare for a mass
shooting incident like Columbine High School or Sandy
Hook Elementary School.
The other California school district that received a
mine-resistant vehicle was the San Diego Unified
School District Police Department, which, according to
NBC San Diego, intends to convert it into a "victim
rescue vehicle."
"We recognize the public concern over perceived
'militarization of law enforcement,' but nothing could
be further from the truth for School Police," San
Diego school police Capt. Joseph Florentino explained,
NBC San Diego reported.
(California School Cops Received Military Rifles, Grenade
Launchers, Armored Vehicles, Matt Ferner, Huffington Post,
September 12, 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/
militarized-police-california_n_5813014.html.)
This bill would not prevent school police departments from
accessing surplus military equipment. The bill, instead, seeks
to ensure community involvement and greater transparency if a
school police department elects to acquire military equipment.
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