BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1209
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1209 (Hagman and Ma)
As Introduced February 27, 2009
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 7-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Solorio, Hagman, | | |
| |Furutani, Anderson, Hill, | | |
| |Ma, Skinner | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Authorizes a peace officer to require an arrestee to
provide use of his or her thumbs or fingers or both in order to
capture these images with a mobile fingerprint device.
Specifically, this bill :
1)States when a mobile fingerprint device is used to capture
images of the arrestee's thumb or fingerprints or both, a
person contesting a charge, as specified, may choose to allow
an officer to capture images of his or her thumb or
fingerprints or both for comparison with the images of the
thumb or fingerprints of the arrestee.
2)Authorizes as an alternative to booking and releasing an
arrestee, as specified, prior to release, an officer may
instead require the arrestee provide use of his or her thumb
or fingers or both in order to capture images of the
arrestee's thumb or fingerprints or both with a mobile
fingerprint device.
3)Requires an officer provide the arrestee with verification, as
specified, by making entry on the citation that images of the
arrestee's thumb or fingerprints or both were captured with a
mobile fingerprint device.
4)Mandates that upon the arrestee's appearance in court, the
magistrate, judge, or court, shall, before the proceeding
begins, order the defendant to provide verification that
images of his or her thumb or fingerprints were captured by
the arresting officer with a mobile fingerprint device.
5)States if the defendant provides the verification, the
AB 1209
Page 2
magistrate, judge, or court shall order the defendant to be
fingerprinted immediately by the court. If the defendant
cannot produce the verification, the magistrate, judge or
court shall require that the defendant be booked and
fingerprinted by the arresting agency before the next court
appearance, and that the defendant provide the verification at
the next court appearance unless both parties stipulate that
booking or fingerprinting is not necessary.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Under current law, when a
person is arrested for an infraction or misdemeanor, law
enforcement officers are required to verify a person's
identification (ID) through a driver's license or other
satisfactory evidence for citation purposes. Additionally, when
arrestees are cited and released for certain offenses, they are
required to appear a later date for booking and fingerprinting.
So long as the arresting officer determines that the arrestee
will not continue to endanger the public, an arrestee, with
proper identification, is cited, released, and agrees to appear
in court at a later date for booking and fingerprinting, instead
of being transported to a facility to be booked. When an
arrestee does not have proper ID, the arrestee provides
fingerprints on the citation, agrees to appear in Court and is
then released. The arrestee must arrange to provide preliminary
fingerprints before Court arraignment.
"Only when an arrestee fails to have proper ID, refuses to sign
a promise to appear in court and to provide fingerprints may the
arrestee be taken into custody. When an arrestee does not
provide proper initial ID or fingerprints, there is no quick and
accurate way of verifying the information. Rather, an officer
must transport the individual to a police station where
fingerprints are submitted on a LiveScan machine in order to
ensure their identity. While this data is speedy and precise,
the process still requires the officer to be pulled away from
patrolling the streets. In addition, when an arrestee provides
fingerprints on their citation and agrees to provide more prints
at a later date before arraignment, many fail to appear in
Court, preventing the Court and law enforcement from having
adequate prints for identification and warrants. In a time when
more local budgets are being cut, it's important that we try to
keep law enforcement on the street, instead of behind desks.
AB 1209
Page 3
"AB 1209 will provide law enforcement and prosecutors a better
tool to obtain more accurate information while saving time. AB
1209 will likely help to reduce failures-to-appear, and provide
the Court with enough identification of individuals who fail to
appear for the purpose of authorizing arrest warrants. In
addition, AB 1209 will help law enforcement track outstanding
warrants, and identify individuals who need to provide DNA for
Proposition 69 compliance in the field. AB 1209 will also save
the arrestee time from scheduling and transporting to an
arresting agency just to be booked. AB 1209 does not change
current law that prohibits the release of fingerprint
information to non-authorized sources. AB 1209 simply provides
law enforcement the option to use accurate technology to save
time and fight crime."
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Horiuchi / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0000718