BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair A
2011-2012 Regular Session B
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AB 2285 ( Eng) 5
As Amended May 23, 2012
Hearing date: July 3, 2012
Penal Code
SM:dl
PEACE OFFICER EXAMINATIONS: CHEATING
HISTORY
Source: Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training
(POST)
Prior Legislation: None
Support: Unknown
Opposition:None Known
Assembly Floor Vote: Ayes 74 - Noes 0
KEY ISSUE
SHOULD A PEACE OFFICER TRAINEE WHO KNOWINGLY CHEATS, ASSISTS IN
CHEATING, OR AIDS, ABETS, OR KNOWINGLY CONCEALS EFFORTS BY OTHERS TO
CHEAT IN ANY MANNER ON A BASIC COURSE EXAMINATION MANDATED BY THE
COMMISSION ON PEACE OFFICERS STANDARDS AND TRAINING AS SPECIFIED BE
LIABLE FOR A CIVIL FINE OF NOT MORE THAN $1,000 PER OCCURRENCE?
(More)
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Page 2
PURPOSE
The purpose of this bill is to (1) provide that a peace officer
trainee, as defined, who, based on investigative findings of the
Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, knowingly
cheats, assists in cheating, or aids, abets, or knowingly
conceals efforts by others to cheat in any manner on a basic
course examination mandated by the commission shall be liable
for a civil fine of not more than $1,000 per occurrence; and (2)
define "cheating" as any attempt or act by a peace officer
trainee to gain an unfair advantage or give an unfair advantage
to another peace officer trainee or group of trainees taking a
POST-mandated basic course examination.
Current law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Training
and Standards (POST).
(Penal Code Section 13500.)
(More)
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).)
Current law empowers POST to develop and implement programs to
increase the effectiveness of law enforcement. (Penal Code
Section 13503.)
Current law 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. (Penal Code Section
13510(a).)
Current law requires POST to conduct research concerning
job-related educational standards and job-related selection
standards to include vision, hearing, physical ability, and
emotional stability and adopt standards supported by this
research. (Penal Code Section 13510(b).)
Current law requires POST to establish a certification program
for peace officers, which shall be considered professional
certificates. (Penal Code Section 13510.1(a).)
Current law states that any person who knowingly commits any of
the following acts is guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each
offense is punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 or
imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by
both a fine and imprisonment (Penal Code Section 13510.2):
Presents or attempts to present as the person's own the
certificate of another;
Knowingly permits another to use his or her certificate;
Knowingly give false evidence of any material kind to
POST, or any member thereof, including the staff, in
obtaining the certificate; or,
Uses, or attempts to use, a canceled certificate.
(More)
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Page 4
Current law states that any person holding a POST certificate,
as specified, is determined to be disqualified from holding
office or being employed as a peace officer, as specified, POST
shall cause the following to be entered in the commission's
training record for that person: "THIS PERSON IS INELIGIBLE TO
BE A PEACE OFFICER IN CALIFORNIA PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 1029(a)." (Penal Code Section 13510.3(a).)
This bill would provide that a peace officer trainee who, based
on POST'S investigative findings, knowingly cheats, assists in
cheating, or aids, abets, or knowingly conceals efforts by
others to cheat in any manner on a basic course examination
mandated by POST shall be liable for a civil fine of not more
than $1,000 per occurrence.
This bill defines "cheating" as any attempt or act by a peace
officer trainee to gain an unfair advantage or give an unfair
advantage to another peace officer trainee or group of trainees
taking a POST-mandated basic course examination.
This bill defines "peace officer trainee" as an applicant for a
basic course examination who has not been hired by a department
or agency and who has not been sworn as a peace officer.
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
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Page 5
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
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
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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
1. Need for the Bill
According to the author:
AB 2285 creates a zero-tolerance for the breach of
examinations administered within POST-certified basic
course academies. This legislation will deter test
compromise, hold culpable parties accountable, and
enable reimbursement for actual damages suffered by
POST. Specifically, AB 2285 would make a person who
knowingly cheats, assists in cheating, or aids, abets,
or knowingly conceals any effort by others to cheat in
any manner on a test mandate by POST punishable by a
fine of not more than $1,000 per occurrence.
2. What this Bill Will Do
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This bill would provide that, if an applicant for a basic POST
course examination is found, based on an investigation by POST,
to have made any attempt to gain an unfair advantage for
themselves or others or aids anyone else in doing this, they
would be liable for a civil fine of up to $1,000, per
occurrence. POST has informed the Committee that a compromised
test, for example, where cadets somehow gain access to test
answers prior to the test, can be very costly in terms of having
to redesign and re-administer the entire test. They explain
that this civil fine is intended to deter cheating before the
test is compromised.
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