BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2130
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2130 (Gorell) - As Amended: April 17, 2012
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote:
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill allows the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and
Training (POST) to accept satisfactory completion of training as
a military police officer in the United States Armed Forces as
an alternative to completion of required training, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT
No direct state or local costs as this measure is permissive;
POST need not accept military police training as an alternative
to POST's California peace-time training.
To the extent, however, POST opts to accept some degree of
military training in lieu of state training there would be
moderate costs, likely in the range of several hundred thousand
dollars, to reconfigure existing training modules and processes
to address the significant differences between military and
civilian policing.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author's intent is to help POST transition
veterans with military police experience into civilian law
enforcement in California.
According to the author, "In light of the large numbers of
returning veterans from the current conflicts and the poor job
market due to the economic situation, it is important to
simplify and expedite the process by which honorably
discharged military policemen may become California peace
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officers."
2)POST sets minimum selection and training standards for
California law enforcement. All peace officers in California
are required to complete an introductory course of training
prescribed by POST, and demonstrate completion of that course
by passing an exam.
POST's Regular Basic Course Training includes 42 separate
topics, ranging from juvenile law and procedure to search and
seizure. These topics are taught during a minimum of 664 hours
of training. Individuals are trained not only in crowd
control, evidence collection and patrol techniques, but also
in specific knowledge of California law.
3)Support . According to AMVETS-Department of California, "We
support this modest effort to help some of our returning
veterans utilize their military training to help get civilian
jobs, turning boots into badges."
4)Opposition centers on the contention that military police
training in and of itself is insufficient for civilian
policing in a peace-time state .
a) According to POST, "There can be no equivalency between
training standards designed to attain military objectives
and training standards designed to attain law enforcement
objectives structured by the U. S. Constitution and
California law. AB 2130 is unsound public policy and
dangerous to the public's safety?.
"Since 1959, the Commission has established hiring
standards that include medical evaluation, psychological
evaluation, a thorough background investigation to evaluate
moral character, fiscal responsibility, gender, racial or
other bias, physical performance of job related tasks and
other factors before admittance to any POST-certified
academy which, on average, presents over 850 hours of basic
training. As a general rule, for every 1000 applicants only
100 candidates qualify to enter an academy. And, as a rule
only 80 of those candidates will successfully complete
academy training and the mandatory probationary period.
Local determination can result in even higher, but never
lower, hiring and training standards established by the
Commission."
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b) According to the California State Sheriffs Association,
"The law enforcement community is grateful for the
sacrifices veterans and their families have made to
preserve our liberties. We are very conscious of the
employment barriers these veterans face when they return to
civilian life, and support policies which assist them in
gaining meaningful employment.
"However, under this proposal, there is no time limit from
the time when a veteran is discharged from his or her
military duty, to when the veteran decides to pursue a
career as a peace officer. Elapsed time is a grave concern
for a veteran who is not required to have up-to-date
training. Also, the training service veterans receive
while in military may not be directly equivalent to the
training a peace officer receives under the Commission's
guidelines. This proposed legislation overlooks an
essential detail, that the condition of being a sworn peace
officer is familiarity with California statutes that govern
all aspects of public safety."
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081