BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1221
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Date of Hearing: June 14, 2016
Counsel: David Billingsley
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
SB
1221 (Hertzberg) - As Amended April 26, 2016
SUMMARY: Directs the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and
Training (POST) to make the existing continuing education
classroom training course related to law enforcement interaction
with mentally disabled persons available to the State Fire
Marshal, who may revise the course as appropriate for
firefighters.
EXISTING LAW:
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1)Establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Training and
Standards. (Pen. Code, § 13500.)
2)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).)
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)States that POST shall include in the basic training course
for law enforcement officers, adequate instruction in the
handling of persons with developmental disabilities or mental
illness, or both. In addition to providing instruction on the
handling of these persons, the course must also include
information on the cause and nature of developmental
disabilities and mental illness, as well as the community
resources available to serve these persons. (Pen. Code, §
13519.2)
6)Requires POST to establish and keep updated a continuing
education classroom training course relating to law
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enforcement interaction with mentally disabled persons.
(Pen.Code, § 13515.25.)
7)Requires the training course to be developed in consultation
with appropriate community, local, and state organizations and
agencies that have expertise in the area of mental illness and
developmental disability, and with appropriate consumer and
family advocate groups. (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.)
8)Directs POST to make the course available to law enforcement
agencies in California. This course must consist of classroom
instruction and utilize interactive training methods to ensure
that the training is as realistic as possible and the course
must include, at a minimum, core instruction in the following:
a) The cause and nature of mental illnesses and
developmental disabilities; (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.)
b) How to identify indicators of mental disability and how
to respond appropriately in a variety of common situations;
(Pen.Code, § 13515.25.)
c) Conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques for
potentially dangerous situations involving mentally
disabled persons; (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.)
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d) Appropriate language usage when interacting with
mentally disabled persons; (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.)
e) Alternatives to lethal force when interacting with
potentially dangerous mentally disabled persons; (Pen.Code,
§ 13515.25.)
f) Community and state resources available to serve
mentally disabled persons and how these resources can be
best utilized by law enforcement to benefit the mentally
disabled community; and, (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.)
g) The fact that a crime committed in whole or in part
because of an actual or perceived disability of the victim
is a hate crime. (Pen.Code, § 13515.25.)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "SB 1221
authorizes POST to share their course on interaction with
mentally disabled persons, with the State Fire Marshal.
"Making the course available to the State Fire Marshal allows
training on topics such as stigmatization and de-escalation
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tactics, to be specifically tailored for firefighters. Many
times firefighters, not law enforcement, are the first
responders to an emergency scene and this training will ensure
that firefighters can respond to mental health emergencies
appropriately.
"Treating a mental health emergency solely as a criminal issue
can have serious unintended consequences. SB 1221 protects the
safety of mentally-ill individuals and firefighters."
2)POST Continuing Education Course on Developmental Disabilities
and Mental Health Issues: POST currently provides a
continuing education course on interacting with individuals
with developmental disabilities or mental health issues. This
bill would make that training program available to
firefighters.
The POST training course consists of classroom instruction and
interactive training methods to ensure that the training is as
realistic as possible. The course includes topics such as the
cause and nature or mental illnesses and developmental
disabilities and how to identify indicators of mental
disability and how to respond appropriately in a variety of
common situations.
Students are instructed on conflict resolution and de-escalation
techniques for potentially dangerous situations involving
mentally disabled persons and appropriate language use when
interacting with mentally disabled persons. Individuals
receiving instruction are also told about community and state
resources available to serve mentally disabled persons.
3)Frequency of Law Enforcement Contacts Involving Mental Health
Issues: Law enforcement officers are often the first
responders to mental health crisis calls; they respond to 911
calls ranging from suicide attempts to individuals potentially
endangering themselves or others. Studies confirm that the
volume of calls to law enforcement involving crisis mental
health concerns have been increasing in the past decade.
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Mental health crisis calls also take more officer time to
resolve. More than eighty percent of the agencies that
Disability Rights California surveyed report that officers
spend more time on these calls. Nearly 4 out of 10 agencies
estimated that officers spend two hours or more on mental
health calls. This means that on a typical day, officers can
spend 1/3 of their time in interactions which would
necessitate skills in crisis intervention and de-escalation.
Beyond crisis calls, officers routinely respond to calls where
they are required to determine whether a person meets the
criteria for involuntary detention for psychiatric assessment
and treatment (otherwise known as 5150). Even standard crime
scene calls require officers to use skills to de-escalate
potentially volatile situations when interacting with members
of the public. (An Ounce of Prevention: Law Enforcement
Training Mental Health Crisis Intervention, (2014) Disability
Rights California, p. 37.)
Many law enforcement agencies throughout the state have
augmented their training programs to provide officers with
additional training after the academy in responding to people
with mental health disabilities in crisis. Augmented training
varies widely but generally includes information on
recognizing the symptoms of a psychiatric disability and
methods for how to interact with an individual in crisis,
including specific de-escalation techniques. Topics covered
in a typical Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) program are
not otherwise mandated in California or required at any level
of officer training. Police chiefs and senior officers
consistently report that their personnel are better equipped
at handling mental health crisis calls after participating in
a CIT program. Furthermore, jurisdictions in which officers
receive CIT report fewer injuries, fewer incidents requiring
use of force, and better outcomes for their officers and
community members. (An Ounce of Prevention: Law Enforcement
Training Mental Health Crisis Intervention, (2014) Disability
Rights California, p. 38-39.)
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4)Firefighter Contact with Individuals with Mental Health
Issues: As first responders, firefighters are dealing with
emergency situations which extend beyond putting out fires.
"In 1980, according to the National Fire Protection Association,
the nation's 30,000 fire departments responded to 10.8 million
emergency calls. About 3 million were classified as fires. By
2013, total calls had nearly tripled to 31.6 million, while
fire calls had plummeted to 1.24 million, of which just
500,000 of were actual structure fires. For America's 1.14
million career and volunteer firefighters, that works out to
an average of just one structure fire every other year."
http://www.governing.com/columns/smart-mgmt/col-fire-department
s-rethink-delivery-emergency-medical-services.html
As first responders, firefighters are dealing with a wide range
of situations. Firefighters are likely to interact with
individuals with mental health issues at a similar rate as law
enforcement officers. To the extent firefighters have a
better understanding of mental health issues, those contacts
are going to result in better outcomes.
5)Argument in Support: According to The Los Angeles County
Office of the Sheriff, "Existing law requires the Commission
on Peace Officer Standards and Training to establish a
continuing education classroom course related to law
enforcement interaction with mentally disabled persons and to
make the course available to law enforcement agencies in
California. Firefighters, being first responders come into
contact with mentally disabled persons as frequently as law
enforcement officers. However, the amount of training
firefighters receive is minimal, if any at all.
"This bill would authorize the commission to make the course
available to the State Fire Marshal. Making the course
available to the Fire Marshal allows training on topics such
as stigmatization and de-escalation tactics to be specifically
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tailored for firefighters.
"Very often, firefighters, not law enforcement, are the first
responders to any emergency scene and this training will
ensure that firefighters can respond to mental health
emergencies appropriately. Treating a mental health emergency
solely as a criminal issue can have serious unintended
consequences and we must ensure that firefighters are equipped
to handle a range of emergencies."
6)Related Legislation:
a) AB 1227 (Cooper), of the 2015-16 Legislative Session,
would have required POST to study and submit a report to
the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2017, that
assessed the statuses of specified training courses on
mental health issues. AB 1227 was held in Assembly
Appropriations.
b) SB 29 (Beall), Chapter 469, Statutes of 2015, requires
law enforcement field training officers to have at least 8
hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training.
c) SB 11 (Beall), Chapter 468, Statutes of 2015, requires
POST to update its basic training course related to law
enforcement interaction with persons with mental illness to
include at least 15 hours.
7)Prior Legislation: AB 1718 (Hertzberg), Chapter 95, Statutes
of 2000, Required that POST establish and keep updated a
continuing education classroom training course relating to law
enforcement intervention with developmentally disabled and
mentally ill persons and that the course be developed in
consultation with specified groups and entities.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
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Support
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office (Sponsor)
Arc and United Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration
Association of Regional Center Agencies
California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies
California Fire Chiefs Association
California Public Defenders Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
Disability Rights California
Fire Districts Association of California
League of California Cities
Mental Health America of California
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
North Los Angeles County Regional Center
State Council on Developmental Disabilities
Opposition
None
SB 1221
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Analysis Prepared by:David Billingsley / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744