BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2011-2012 Regular Session B
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AB 2130 (Gorell) 0
As Amended May 25, 2012
Hearing date: July 3, 2012
Penal Code
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PEACE OFFICER TRAINING
HISTORY
Source: AMVETS - Department of California
Prior Legislation: None
Support: American Legion - Department of California; California
Association of County Veterans Service Officers;
California State Commanders Veterans Council;
California Workforce Association; Vietnam Veterans of
America, California State Council
Opposition:California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and
Training (POST); California State Sheriffs' Association
(CSSA); Peace Officers Research Association of
California (PORAC)
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 76 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUES
SHOULD THE COMMISSION ON PEACE OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING
(POST) BE AUTHORIZED TO EVALUATE PERTINENT MILITARY POLICE
OFFICER TRAINING PREVIOUSLY COMPLETED BY ANY JURISDICTION'S LAW
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ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE TRAINING MEETS
CURRENT POST TRAINING REQUIREMENTS AND TO CONSIDER PREVIOUS
MILITARY POLICE OFFICER TRAINING AS PART OF THE COMMISSION'S
BASIC COURSE WAIVER PROCESS?
(CONTINUED)
SHOULD THE COMMISSION BE AUTHORIZED TO DEVELOP A PROTOCOL THAT
CONSIDERS PREVIOUS MILITARY POLICE OFFICER TRAINING AS AN APPLICABLE
SUBSTITUTE FOR PORTIONS OF THE CURRENT STANDARD TRAINING, AS
SPECIFIED?
SHOULD POST BE REQUIRED TO REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE, BY JANUARY 1,
2014, ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROTOCOL REQUIRED BY THIS SECTION?
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to (1) authorize the Commission on
Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to evaluate
pertinent military police officer training previously completed
by any jurisdiction's law enforcement officers to determine
whether the training meets current POST training requirements
and to authorize POST to consider previous military police
officer training as part of the commission's basic course waiver
process; (2) authorize POST to develop a protocol that considers
previous military police officer training as an applicable
substitute for portions of the current standard training, as
specified; and (3) require POST to report to the Legislature, by
January 1, 2014, on the development of the protocol required by
this section.
Current law requires all peace officers to complete an
introductory course of training prescribed by POST, demonstrated
by passage of an appropriate examination developed by POST.
(Penal Code Section 832(a).)
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Current law requires POST to prepare a course of instruction for
the training of peace officers in the use of tear gas. (Penal
Code Section 13514.)
Current law requires POST to develop and disseminate guidelines
and standardized training recommendations for all law
enforcement officers, supervisors, or managers whose agency
assigns them to perform, supervise, or management Special
Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operations. (Penal Code Section
13514.1(a).)
Current law requires POST implement a course or courses of
instruction for the training of law enforcement officers in the
handling of acts of civil disobedience and adopt guidelines that
may be followed by police agencies in responding to acts of
civil disobedience. (Penal Code Section 13514.5(a).)
Current law requires every police officer or deputy sheriff who
is assigned field or investigative duties to complete an elder
and dependent adult abuse training course certified by POST.
(Penal Code Section 13515(a).)
Current law requires POST establish and keep updated a
continuing education classroom training course related to law
enforcement interaction with mentally disabled persons. (Penal
Code Section 13515.25(a).)
Current law requires POST create and make available on DVD and
may distribute electronically a course on how to recognize and
interact with persons with autistic spectrum disorders. (Penal
Code Section 13515.35(a).)
Current law requires every police officer or deputy sheriff who
is assigned field or investigative duties to complete a high
technology crimes and computer seizure training course certified
by POST. (Penal Code Section 13515.55.)
Current law requires POST to prepare guidelines establishing
standard procedures which may be followed by police agencies in
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the investigation of sexual assault cases, and cases involving
the sexual exploitation or sexual abuse of children, including,
police response to, and treatment of, victims of these crimes.
This training must be included in the basic certificate issued
by POST or no reimbursement will be made to local agencies based
on attendance at any course which does not comply with this
requirement. (Penal Code Section 13516(a) and (b).)
Current law requires POST to prepare guidelines establishing
standard procedures which may be followed by police agencies in
the detection, investigation, and response to cases in which a
minor is a victim of an act of abuse or neglect including
procedures for determining whether or not a child should be
taken into protective custody and minimizing the number of times
a child is interviewed by law enforcement personnel. (Penal
Code Section 13517(a).)
Current law requires POST to prepare guidelines establishing
standard procedures which may be followed by police agencies and
prosecutors in interviewing minor witnesses. (Penal Code
Section 13517.5.)
Current law requires POST to develop guidelines and training for
use by state and local law enforcement officers to address
issues related to child safety when a caretaker parent or
guardian is arrested. (Penal Code Section 13517.7(a).)
Current law requires POST to implement a course or courses of
instruction for the training of law enforcement officers in
California in the handling of domestic violence complaints and
also shall develop guidelines for law enforcement response to
domestic violence. (Penal Code Section 13519(a).)
Current law requires POST to implement a course or courses of
instruction for the training of law enforcement officers in
California in the handling of stalking complaints and also shall
develop guidelines for law enforcement response to stalking.
(Penal Code Section 13519.05(a).)
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Current law requires POST to modify its missing persons
investigations guidelines and curriculum with contemporary
information. Specifically, the commission should consider
including and revising their guidelines to include both steps
for law enforcement agencies in the first few hours after the
reporting of a missing person and information on the
availability of the department task forces, the SAFE Task Force
Regional Teams, and other entities that can assist in the search
for a missing person. (Penal Code Section 13519.07(e).)
Current law requires POST to implement a course or courses of
instruction for the training of law enforcement officers and law
enforcement dispatchers in the handling of missing person and
runaway cases and shall also develop guidelines for law
enforcement response to missing person and runaway cases.
(Penal Code Section 13519.1(a).)
Current law requires POST to 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. (Penal Code Section 13519.2(a).)
Current law requires POST to establish a course on the nature of
sudden infant death syndrome and the handling of cases involving
the sudden deaths of infants. (Penal Code Section 13519.3(a).)
Current law requires POST to develop and disseminate guidelines
and training for all law enforcement officers in California who
adhere to the standards approved by the commission, on the
racial and cultural differences among the residents of this
state. (Penal Code Section 13519.4(a).)
Current law requires POST to implement a course or courses of
instruction to provide ongoing training to the appropriate peace
officers on methods of gang and drug law enforcement. (Penal
Code Section 13519.5.)
Current law requires POST to develop guidelines and a course of
instruction and training for law enforcement officers who are
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employed as peace officers, or who are not yet employed as a
peace officer but are enrolled in a training academy for law
enforcement officers, addressing hate crimes. (Penal Code
Section 13519.6(a).)
Current law requires POST to develop a two-hour telecourse to be
made available to all law enforcement agencies in California on
crimes against homeless persons and on how to deal effectively
and humanely with homeless persons, including homeless persons
with disabilities. (Penal Code Section 13519.64(b).)
Current law requires POST to develop complaint guidelines to be
followed by city police departments, county sheriffs'
departments, districts, and state university departments, for
peace officers who are victims of sexual harassment in the
workplace. (Penal Code Section 13519.7(a).)
Current law requires POST to implement a course or courses of
instruction for the regular and periodic training of law
enforcement officers in the handling of high-speed vehicle
pursuits and to develop uniform, minimum guidelines for adoption
and promulgation by California law enforcement agencies for
response to high-speed vehicle pursuits. (Penal Code Section
13519.8(a)(1).)
Current law requires POST to establish the Robert Presley
Institute of Criminal Investigation which will make available to
criminal investigators of California's law enforcement agencies
an advanced training program to meet the needs of working
investigators in specialty assignments, such as arson, auto
theft, homicide, and narcotics. (Penal Code Section
13519.9(a).)
Current law requires POST to establish training standards and
develop a course of instruction that includes the criteria for
the curriculum content recommended by the Emergency Response
Training Advisory Committee involving the responsibilities of
first responders to terrorism incidents. (Penal Code Section
13519.12(a).)
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Current law requires POST to implement a course or courses of
instruction for the training of law enforcement officers in
California in the handling of human trafficking complaints and
also shall develop guidelines for law enforcement response to
human trafficking. (Penal Code Section 13519.14(a).)
Current law requires POST to prepare guidelines establishing
standard procedures which may be followed by law enforcement
agencies in the investigation and reporting of cases involving
anti-reproductive-rights crimes. (Penal Code Section 13519.15.)
This bill authorizes POST to evaluate pertinent military police
officer training previously completed by any jurisdiction's law
enforcement officers for the purposes of determining whether the
training meets the current training requirements prescribed by
the commission pursuant to this chapter and may consider
previous military police officer training as part of the
commission's basic course waiver process.
This bill provides that POST may develop a protocol that
considers previous military police officer training as an
applicable substitute for portions of the current standard
training. In developing the protocol, the commission shall do
all of the following:
Assess the content and transferability of military
police officer training to fulfill the commission's program
requirements.
Identify additional training requirements that must be
fulfilled to satisfactorily complete the commission's
certification program.
Develop a modular training standard for the purpose of
satisfying the unmet requirements identified by the
commission pursuant to paragraph (2).
This bill requires that POST report to the Legislature, by
January 1, 2014, on the development of the protocol required by
this section. The requirement for submitting this report is
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inoperative on July 31, 2017.
RECEIVERSHIP/OVERCROWDING CRISIS AGGRAVATION
("ROCA")
In response to the unresolved prison capacity crisis, since
early 2007 it has been the policy of the chair of the Senate
Committee on Public Safety and the Senate President pro Tem to
hold legislative proposals which could further aggravate prison
overcrowding through new or expanded felony prosecutions. Under
the resulting policy known as "ROCA" (which stands for
"Receivership/Overcrowding Crisis Aggravation"), the Committee
has held measures which create a new felony, expand the scope or
penalty of an existing felony, or otherwise increase the
application of a felony in a manner which could exacerbate the
prison overcrowding crisis by expanding the availability or
length of prison terms (such as extending the statute of
limitations for felonies or constricting statutory parole
standards). In addition, proposed expansions to the
classification of felonies enacted last year by AB 109 (the 2011
Public Safety Realignment) which may be punishable in jail and
not prison (Penal Code section 1170(h)) would be subject to ROCA
because an offender's criminal record could make the offender
ineligible for jail and therefore subject to state prison.
Under these principles, ROCA has been applied as a
content-neutral, provisional measure necessary to ensure that
the Legislature does not erode progress towards reducing prison
overcrowding by passing legislation which could increase the
prison population. ROCA will continue until prison overcrowding
is resolved.
For the last several years, severe overcrowding in California's
prisons has been the focus of evolving and expensive litigation.
On June 30, 2005, in a class action lawsuit filed four years
earlier, the United States District Court for the Northern
District of California established a Receivership to take
control of the delivery of medical services to all California
state prisoners confined by the California Department of
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Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR"). 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 January 12, 2010, a
three-judge federal panel issued an order requiring California
to reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of design
capacity -- a reduction at that time of roughly 40,000 inmates
-- within two years. The court stayed implementation of its
ruling pending the state's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On May 23, 2011, the United States Supreme Court upheld the
decision of the three-judge panel in its entirety, giving
California two years from the date of its ruling to reduce its
prison population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, subject
to the right of the state to seek modifications in appropriate
circumstances. Design capacity is the number of inmates a
prison can house based on one inmate per cell, single-level
bunks in dormitories, and no beds in places not designed for
housing. Current design capacity in CDCR's 33 institutions is
79,650.
On January 6, 2012, CDCR announced that California had cut
prison overcrowding by more than 11,000 inmates over the last
six months, a reduction largely accomplished by the passage of
Assembly Bill 109. Under the prisoner-reduction order, the
inmate population in California's 33 prisons must be no more
than the following:
167 percent of design capacity by December 27, 2011
(133,016 inmates);
155 percent by June 27, 2012;
147 percent by December 27, 2012; and
137.5 percent by June 27, 2013.
This bill does not aggravate the prison overcrowding crisis
described above under ROCA.
COMMENTS
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1. Need for This Bill
According to the author:
While unemployment levels in California are high, the
unemployment levels for veterans are even higher.
According to Governor Brown's Executive Order B-9-11,
"The unemployment rate for Gulf War II veterans is 42
percent higher than it is for non-veterans."
Currently, the California Department of Veterans'
Affairs, the Employment Development Department and the
California Interagency Council on Veterans are taking
steps to create job opportunities for veterans in
order to lower unemployment levels and remove barriers
to such opportunities for veterans in California.
Returning veterans are at a disadvantage in finding
employment upon return from their military service,
due to the fact that many have not been able to
receive training and experience in any civilian career
fields while they were away. Historically, much of the
training that service members receive while in
military service does not correlate with many civilian
career fields. However, there are some skills such as
firefighting and police work which share many
similarities with the civilian sector. Veterans often
have years of work experience, but have limited ways
of leveraging these skills in the marketplace. The
intent of this legislation is to do just that.
Military police training does correlate to a civilian
career field and this is an excellent opportunity for
veterans to utilize training that they have already
received in order to gain employment. It is the
obligation of all Californians to serve those who have
served us.
2. POST Training Requirements
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POST was created by the legislature in 1959 to set minimum
selection and training standards for California law enforcement.
(Penal Code Section 13500(a).) Their mandate includes
establishing minimum standards for training of peace officers in
California. (Penal Code Section 13510(a).) As of 1989, 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 examination.
(Penal Code Section 832(a).)
According to the POST website, the Regular Basic Course Training
includes 42 separate topics, ranging from juvenile law and
procedure to search and seizure. (POST, Regular Basic Course
Training Specifications;
http://post.ca.gov/regular-basic-course-training-specifications.a
spx.) These topics are taught during a minimum of 664 hours of
training. (POST, Regular Basic Course, Course Formats,
available at: http://post.ca.gov/regular-basic-course.aspx.)
Over the course of the training, individuals are trained not
only on policing skills such as crowd control, evidence
collection and patrol techniques, they are also required to
recall the basic definition of a crime and know the elements of
major crimes. This requires knowledge of the California Penal
code specifically.
3. Military Police Training
According to GoArmy.com, the Army recruiting website, military
police officers "protect the lives and property on Army
installations by enforcing military laws and regulations. They
also control traffic, prevent crime and respond to all
emergencies." (U.S. Army, Career Opportunities, Military
Police;
http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-cate
gories/legal-and-law-enforcement/military-police.html.)
Although the full training curriculum is not listed, skills that
recruits will learn during the training include basic "warrior
skills and use of firearms, military/civil laws and
jurisdiction, investigating and collecting evidence, traffic and
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crowd control, and arrest and restraint of suspects." (Ibid.)
While POST training focuses on California law, the basis for
military police training is the Uniform Code of Military Justice
(UCMJ). While there are some basic similarities between
offenses in the California Penal Code and the UCMJ, such as
murder, there are a number of offenses in one that are excluded
from the other. For example, the UCMJ includes an offense of
desertion, an offense that does not exist in the California
Penal Code. (10 U.S.C Section 885.) In contrast, California
has an extensive process for registering sex offenders, a
process which does not exist under the UCMJ. (Penal Code
Section 290, et. seq.) While the training that military police
officers undergo is extensive, it is not coextensive with POST
training and it is unclear if that training would adequately
prepare these individuals to effectively and efficiently act as
California peace officers.
4. Veteran Recruiting by Law Enforcement
Many law enforcement agencies actively recruit military veterans
for their forces. For example, the Los Angeles Police
Department (LAPD) has an initiative called "Military Green to
LAPD Blue." In addition to increased pay for military
experience, veterans also receive an additional five points
during the hiring process. (Join LAPD, Military Personnel.
Available at: http://www.joinlapd.com/military.html.) Similar
programs and preferences also exist in other law enforcement
agencies including the California Highway Patrol
(http://www.chp.ca.gov/recruiting/military.html). In addition
to hiring preferences, both departments emphasize that the
police academy is eligible to receive G.I. Bill educational
benefits, essentially making the veteran's training free.
5. Effect of This Bill
The language of this bill is self-contradictory and confusing.
It states that the commission may evaluate pertinent military
police officer training to determine whether that training meets
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POST's current training requirements. It further states that
the commission may develop a protocol that considers previous
military police officer training as an applicable substitute for
portions of the current standard training. This permissive
language clearly indicates that these actions by POST are
authorized but not required. The bill then provides that "The
commission shall report to the Legislature, by January 1, 2014,
on the development of the protocol required by this section."
However, the previous language of the bill clearly states that
there is no protocol required by this section.
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6. Statement in Support
The California Workforce Association states:
CWA and the local workforce investment boards and
one-stop career centers that is represents on a daily
basis with individuals to ensure they have the skills
and training for in-demand jobs needed by employers.
Because of the thousands of military personnel
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the state and
local boards have been particularly attuned to the
needs of California veterans. AB 2130 is important
legislation that seeks to more efficiently and swiftly
transition veterans with military policy (sic)
training and experience into civilian law enforcement
positions in California. Much of the law enforcement
training in the military is consistent with the
standards for POST training, and compelling returning
military police to complete redundant training impedes
access to employment opportunities in public safety.
7. Statement in Opposition
The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training states:
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.
California is the national leader in law enforcement
selection and training standards. In fact,
California's hiring standards are so stringent that
peace officers from other states are rarely allowed to
lateral into California as qualified peace officers
without meeting additional training. This is due in
part to peace officer training mandates enacted over
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time by the California Legislature.
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. The Commission holds
the highest respect for the brave men and women who
serve in the armed forces, remains sensitive to
returning veterans' employment challenges, and is
readily available to assist them with the application
process to become a California peace officer.
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