BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Mark Leno, Chair S
2009-2010 Regular Session B
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SB 490 (Maldonado)
As Introduced February 26, 2009
Hearing date: March 31, 2009
Penal Code
SM:mc
COUNTY AUTHORITY FOR CUSTODIAL DEPUTY SHERIFF POSITIONS:
ADDITION OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
HISTORY
Source: Peace Officers Research Association of California
Prior Legislation: AB 2215 (Berryhill) - Ch. 15, Stats.
2008
AB 151 (Berryhill) - Ch. 84, Stats. 2007
AB 272 (Matthews) - Ch.127, Stats. 2005
AB 1931 (La Malfa) - Ch. 516, Stats. 2004
AB 1254 (La Malfa) - Ch. 70, Stats. 2003
SB 570 (Chesbro) - Ch. 710, Stats. 2003
AB 2346 (Dickerson) - Ch. 185, Stats. 2002
SB 926 (Battin) - Ch. 68, Stats. 2001
SB 1762 (Alpert) - Ch. 61, Stats. 2000
AB 574 (Villariagosa) - Ch. 950, Stats. 1996
Support: San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill; one
private citizen
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Opposition:Several private citizens
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY BE GRANTED THE AUTHORITY CURRENTLY
GRANTED TO TWENTY-SEVEN OTHER COUNTIES TO EMPLOY "CUSTODIAL DEPUTY
SHERIFFS" WHO ARE "EMPLOYED TO PERFORM DUTIES EXCLUSIVELY OR
INITIALLY RELATING TO CUSTODIAL ASSIGNMENTS," PURSUANT TO PENAL CODE
SECTION 830.1(c)?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to grant to San Luis Obispo County
the authority currently granted to twenty-seven other counties
to employ "custodial deputy sheriffs" who are "employed to
perform duties exclusively or initially relating to custodial
assignments," pursuant to Penal Code Section 830.1(c).
Existing law provides that any deputy sheriff of the County of
Los Angeles, and any deputy sheriff of the counties of Butte,
Calaveras, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake,
Lassen, Mariposa, Mendocino, Plumas, Riverside, San Benito, San
Diego, Santa Barbara, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma,
Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, and Tuolumne who is employed
to perform duties exclusively or initially relating to custodial
assignments with responsibilities for maintaining the operations
of county custodial facilities, including the custody, care,
supervision, security, movement, and transportation of inmates,
is a peace officer whose authority extends to any place in the
state only while engaged in the performance of the duties of his
or her respective employment and for the purpose of carrying out
the primary function of employment relating to his or her
custodial assignments, or when performing other law enforcement
duties directed by his or her employing agency during a local
state of emergency. (Penal Code 830.1(c).)
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Under existing law , all cities and counties are authorized to
employ custodial officers (public officers who are not peace
officers) for the purpose of maintaining order in local
detention facilities. (Penal Code 831.)
Notwithstanding Section 831, in counties with a population of
425,000 or less - and San Diego, Fresno, Kern, Riverside, and
Stanislaus counties - "enhanced powers" custodial officers may
be employed. Santa Clara County is also included in this
section with specified authority for custodial officers who are
employed by the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections.
(Penal Code 831.5.)
Those "enhanced powers" custodial officers may carry firearms
under the direction of the sheriff while fulfilling specified
job-related duties. They too are designated as "public
officers," not "peace officers"; they are empowered to serve
warrants, writs, or subpoenas within the custodial facility,
and, as with regular custodial officers, they may use
reasonable force to establish and maintain custody, and may
release from custody misdemeanants on citation to appear or
individuals arrested for intoxication who are not subject to
further criminal proceedings. They may also make warrantless
arrests within the facility (pursuant to Section 836.5 -
misdemeanor in the presence of the officer). Training
standards are specified. A peace officer is required to be
present in a supervisorial capacity whenever 20 or more
custodial officers are on duty (for both Section 831 and 831.5
officers).
Existing law establishes within the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation the Corrections Standards Authority and
makes the Authority responsible for general oversight of local
detention facilities, including selection, training, and
education of custodial personnel. (Penal Code 6024 et seq.)
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Existing law requires every peace officer to complete an
introductory course of training prescribed by the Commission
on Peace Officer Standards and Training and requires any
person who completes that training, but is not employed as a
peace officer within 3 years, or who has a 3-year or longer
break in service as a peace officer, to pass a specified
examination, except for specifically exempted persons,
including a peace officer specified in Penal Code Section
830.1(c) who is assigned to perform duties exclusively or
initially relating to specified custodial assignments, if the
peace officer has previously successfully completed the
required training, and since that time has been continually
employed as a custodial officer by the agency appointing him
or her as a peace officer. (Penal Code 832.)
Existing law sets qualifications for "holding office as a peace
officer" including that applicants be found to be free from any
physical, emotional, or mental condition which might adversely
affect the exercise of the powers of a peace officer.
(Government Code 1029 and 1031.)
This bill adds San Luis Obispo County to the list of counties
that may employ custodial deputy sheriffs as defined in Penal
Code Section 830.1(c).
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
California continues to face a severe prison overcrowding
crisis. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
currently has about 170,000 inmates under its jurisdiction. Due
to a lack of traditional housing space available, the department
houses roughly 15,000 inmates in gyms and dayrooms.
California's prison population has increased by 125% (an average
of 4% annually) over the past 20 years, growing from 76,000
inmates to 171,000 inmates, far outpacing the state's population
growth rate for the age cohort with the highest risk of
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incarceration.<1>
In December of 2006 plaintiffs in two federal lawsuits against
CDCR sought a court-ordered limit on the prison population
pursuant to the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act. On
February 9, 2009, the three-judge federal court panel issued a
tentative ruling that included the following conclusions with
respect to overcrowding:
No party contests that California's prisons are
overcrowded, however measured, and whether considered
in comparison to prisons in other states or jails
within this state. There are simply too many
prisoners for the existing capacity. The Governor,
the principal defendant, declared a state of emergency
in 2006 because of the "severe overcrowding" in
California's prisons, which has caused "substantial
risk to the health and safety of the men and women who
work inside these prisons and the inmates housed in
them." . . . A state appellate court upheld the
Governor's proclamation, holding that the evidence
supported the existence of conditions of "extreme
peril to the safety of persons and property."
(citation omitted) The Governor's declaration of the
state of emergency remains in effect to this day.
. . . the evidence is compelling that there is no
relief other than a prisoner release order that will
remedy the unconstitutional prison conditions.
. . .
Although the evidence may be less than perfectly
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<1> "Between 1987 and 2007, California's population of ages 15
through 44 - the age cohort with the highest risk for
incarceration - grew by an average of less than 1% annually,
which is a pace much slower than the growth in prison
admissions." (2009-2010 Budget Analysis Series, Judicial and
Criminal Justice, Legislative Analyst's Office (January 30,
2009).)
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clear, it appears to the Court that in order to
alleviate the constitutional violations California's
inmate population must be reduced to at most 120% to
145% of design capacity, with some institutions or
clinical programs at or below 100%. We caution the
parties, however, that these are not firm figures and
that the Court reserves the right - until its final
ruling - to determine that a higher or lower figure is
appropriate in general or in particular types of
facilities.
. . .
Under the PLRA, any prisoner release order that we
issue will be narrowly drawn, extend no further than
necessary to correct the violation of constitutional
rights, and be the least intrusive means necessary to
correct the violation of those rights. For this
reason, it is our present intention to adopt an order
requiring the State to develop a plan to reduce the
prison population to 120% or 145% of the prison's
design capacity (or somewhere in between) within a
period of two or three years.<2>
The final outcome of the panel's tentative decision, as well as
any appeal that may be in response to the panel's final
decision, is unknown at the time of this writing.
This bill does not appear to aggravate the prison overcrowding
crisis outlined above.
COMMENTS
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<2> Three Judge Court Tentative Ruling, Coleman v.
Schwarzenegger, Plata v. Schwarzenegger, in the United States
District Courts for the Eastern District of California and the
Northern District of California United States District Court
composed of three judges pursuant to Section 2284, Title 28,
United States Code (Feb. 9, 2009).
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1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
Currently, there are 27 counties in Penal Code Section
830.1(c), allowing them to create a new classification of
peace officer. This officer is essentially a hybrid
between a regular peace officer and a correctional officer.
In the 27 counties listed in the code section, this new
peace officer classification gives the county the
flexibility of using the correctional officer with peace
officer powers without the cost of having to use a fully
trained Deputy Sheriff.
Penal Code 830.1(c) allows a county to send an officer to
the limited STC training without having to pay to send that
officer to the full POST training academy, thereby saving
the county tens of thousands of dollars. Because of the
limited training of the 830.1(c) peace officer, that
officer has peace officers powers while in the jails, but
does not have the training or authority to be a peace
officer out on the street. If that officer chooses to
become a full Deputy Sheriff, the county can then send the
officer back to the training academy for the remainder of
the POST certificate requirements and then send that
officer out on to the streets.
Besides acting as a cost savings for counties who are
financially strapped, this new status of peace officer
protects a correctional officer through the peace officer
designation for a number of reasons. The most important
reason is that Correctional Officers throughout California
are experiencing an increase in assaults by prisoners.
Since they are not included in Penal Code 830.1, and
therefore not designated as peace officers, these officers
are unable to charge the assailant with a violation of PC
241.1, 243.1 or 245.3.
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By moving the County of San Luis Obispo into Penal Code
Section 830.1(c), SB 490 is providing them with the
flexibility they need to protect the citizens of that
county, and to remain financially viable, thereby
protecting the jobs of peace officers in San Luis Obispo
County.
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2. Characteristics of the Penal Code Section 830.1(c) Custodial
Deputy Sheriff
The Penal Code Section 830.1(c) custodial deputy sheriff
classification is part of a continuum of classifications of
custodial officers in county jails and other local detention
facilities. Custodial officers under Sections 831 and 831.5 are
not peace officers, whereas a Section 830.1(c) custodial deputy
sheriff is a peace officer, "who is employed to perform duties
exclusively or initially relating to custodial assignments."
(Penal Code 830.1(c).) One of the most significant
differences between the Section 830.1(c) custodial deputy
sheriffs and Sections 831 and 831.5 custodial officers is that,
as "peace officers," the 830.1(c) custodial deputy sheriffs are
granted all the rights and protections contained in the Public
Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act. (Government Code
3301 et seq.)
Being a peace officer also confers a special status under several
Penal Code provisions, e.g. falsely reporting a crime to a peace
officer is an alternate felony-misdemeanor (Penal Code 148.1
and 148.5); giving false identification to a peace officer is a
misdemeanor (Penal Code 148.9); and, any peace officer listed
in Penal Code Sections 830.1 and 830.2 is allowed to carry
firearms concealed in public while off-duty, even if that
person's employing agency does not allow the officer to carry a
firearm while on-duty. (Orange County Employees Association,
Inc. v. County of Orange (1993) 14 Cal.App.4th 575, 582.)
Additionally, an honorably retired peace officer may carry a
concealed and/or a loaded weapon in a public place or vehicle
after retirement. (Penal Code 12027 and 12031.)
According to the Corrections Standards Authority the minimum
training required for 831, 831.5 custodial officers and 830.1(c)
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custodial deputy sheriffs is the same.<3> Each must complete an
Adult Corrections Officer core course within their first year of
assignment that consists of 176 hours of training in addition to
first aid and CPR training. They are also required to receive
24 hours of annual training following their initial year. Each
of these officers must also complete the Penal Code Section 832
course, certified by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards
and Training (POST). The Section 832 course consists of a basic
40-hour arrest training course as well as 24 hours of firearms
training that would only be required of those custodial officers
who are authorized to carry firearms.
By contrast, the level of training required of a regular peace
officer consists of a minimum 664 hour POST certified training
course; however, according to POST, most academies actually
require 850-1278 hours of training.
San Luis Obispo - and all counties - may utilize Section 831
non-peace officer custodial officers; however, these officers may
not carry firearms. (Penal Code 831(b).) Further, according
to the 2007 estimate of the U.S. Census Bureau, San Luis Obispo
has a population below 425,000 and therefore may utilize Section
831.5 custodial officers. However, there are limitations on the
authority and use of Section 831.5 custodial officers. For
example, 831.5 custodial officers may not perform strip searches
(unless they are employed in Santa Clara County), have limited
arrest powers, and are limited in their "armed duty" roles.
Another limitation on the use of both Section 831 and 831.5
non-peace officer custodial officers is that, whenever 20 or more
of such officers are on duty, there must be at least one 830.1
peace officer, who has received the full 664-plus hour basic
training for Section 830.1(a) deputy sheriffs, on duty at the
same time to supervise the custodial officers. (Penal Code
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<3> Except for the 40-hour arrest training course (Penal Code
832), these training standards are not statutorily mandated but
are nonetheless followed by every sheriff's department and
probation department in California. Corrections Standards
Authority, a division of the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, establishes standards and guidelines for the
training of local correctional officers.
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831(d) and 831.5(d).)
SHOULD SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY BE AUTHORIZED TO HIRE CUSTODIAL
DEPUTY SHERIFFS?
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